[By Mark Yolkowski, October 17th, 2013 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]
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| The Wrights on the UVM Campus |
The University of Vermont has been friendly to Canadians and K-W Lightning alumni over the years. Aaron Yantzi (Waterloo-Oxford) and May Kotsopoulos (WCI) are both former Lightning players who attended Vermont and are among the Catamount women’s career scoring leaders. Kotsopoulos ranks 5th in school history (1772 points) while Yantzi sits 7th on the all-time list (1592 points).
Vermont’s current assistant coach, Courtnay Pilypaitis, is a native of Orleans, Ontario and competed for Canada in basketball at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Pilypaitis played for Vermont from 2006-2010, and ranks third all-time on the scoring list (1993 career points).
“I am extremely proud of Candice & Courtney for achieving their dream of playing Division I basketball at University of Vermont, where previous Lightning grads Aaron Yantzi and May Kotsopoulos experienced so much success,” said K-W Lightning Tri-County JUEL Head Coach Craig Nickel, “Candice & Courtney have improved tremendously since they joined the K-W Lightning organization two years ago due to their outstanding athletic ability and hard work. I look forward to working with them over the next two years to continue their development.”
“This is an early offer, which means Vermont had them at the top of their recruiting list for 2015,” said Allan Bush. “It’s an added bonus that they wanted both equally. My understanding is that the Vermont coaching staff loves the girls’game and they are very excited to have their athleticism joining the program. Courtney and Candice always listened and worked hard to get better, and it has paid off with this signing.”
The Wrights were key members of the K-W Lightning’s Ontario Basketball Association (OBA) Gold Medal championship team this past season, and have participated on K-W Lightning’s AAU Teams the past two summers during tours in the United States and Canada, where they were first noticed by Vermont.
Mark Yolkowski, founder of CWOSSABasketball.com, a website dedicated to area high-school basketball, echoed Bush’s sentiments.
“They were certainly on the recruiting radar for several NCAA programs,” said Yolkowski. “It’s easy to see why, given their tremendous athleticism and the continuous improvement that those of us who follow basketball in the area have seen from them over the past couple of seasons.”
Currently in grade eleven at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School in Cambridge, the Wrights have guided the Hawks to a 6-2 start to their season and a #5 regional ranking among Central-Western Ontario high schools by CWOSSABasketball.com. They will have one more year of high school remaining before enrolling at Vermont in the fall of 2015.
Candice wants to pursue a career in Medicine, while Courtney would like to go into Education. Courtney, an OFSAA Triple Jump champion, will also have the opportunity to pursue Track and Field at Vermont during the basketball off-season.
About K-W Lightning Basketball
KW Lightning Girls Basketball Association is a non-profit organization that was formed in 1993 to develop basketball skills for girls in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. KW Lightning fields competitive rep travel teams for girls at all age levels, has created a skill development program for girls in grade 3 and under, and co-sponsors a non-competitive house league program.
KW Lightning is a member club of Ontario Basketball, the governing body for basketball in Ontario, and a frequent host of the provincial Ontario Cup tournaments at the end of each season.
Their rep program is currently one of the top programs in Canada, having sent 15 graduates to college and university programs in the United States and Canada this year alone.
About CWOSSABasketball.com
CWOSSABasketball.com, founded by Mark Yolkowski in 2009, is an independent high school basketball website focusing on schools in Central-Western Ontario.
For more information, contact:
Mark Yolkowski, CWOSSABasketball.com
Cell: (519) 222-8248
mark@cwossabasketball.com
Allan Bush, President – K-W Lightning Basketball
Phone: (519) 883-5350
allan.bush@cibc.ca
Matt McIntyre, Coach – Jacob Hespeler SS, Cambridge
School Phone: (519) 658-4910
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