Holloway, Swords Named to Canada U19 Team
7/9/2025 5:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BRNO, Czech Republic -- Mila Holloway and Syla Swords of the University of Michigan women's basketball team will represent Canada at the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup, set for July 12-20, as the roster was announced on Wednesday (July 9). It is the first national team appearance for Holloway, while Swords is coming off winning a bronze medal with Canada at last week's AmeriCup.
Holloway is making her national-team debut for Canada, with Canadian citizenship on her mother's side. She stepped in as the starting point guard last season, setting the U-M freshman record for assists in a season with 148. Holloway started all 34 games, averaging 9.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 29 minutes per game. She scored in double figures in 13 games en route to earning All-Big Ten honorable mention by the media. Holloway tallied three 20-point games and 14 games with at least five assists.
Swords has spent the last three years representing Canada, playing in the U17 and U19 World Cups at the junior level and with the senior national team in multiple tournaments, highlighted by the 2024 Olympics. She was the youngest basketball player to ever play for Canada at the Olympics, playing in the 2024 Games in Paris. She appeared in all three games as the youngest player in Paris, averaging 3.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 14.6 minutes per game. She has three bronze medals as part of Canada Basketball, including a bronze at the 2023 U19 World Cup.
Swords appeared in all but one game as a freshman, averaging 16.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 32.5 minutes per game. Swords was named to the Big Ten all-freshman team, Big Ten all-tournament team, the All-Big Ten second team and the ESPN all-freshman team. She recorded a pair of double-doubles on the season, highlighted by a 27-point, 12-rebound performance in her collegiate debut against No. 1 South Carolina (Nov. 4).
Assistant coach Natalie Achonwa is making her Canadian coaching debut on the sidelines, serving as an assistant coach. Achonwa most recently competed at the Olympics for Canada, serving as captain of the national team alongside Swords. It marked the fourth Olympic appearance for Achonwa, the most ever by a Canadian basketball player. She played in 79 career games for the senior national team, the second most in Canadian women's basketball history. She led Canada to the 2015 FIBA AmeriCup championship -- Canada's first gold medal at the event in 20 years -- and the 2015 Pan American Games championship -- Canada's first-ever gold at the PanAm Games. Achonwa ended her national career ranked first in assists in Canada women's basketball history at the Olympic Games with 43.
The FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2025 will run July 12-20 in Brno, Czech Republic. After a silver medal at the FIBA U18 Women's AmeriCup 2024, Canada will share Group B with China, Nigeria and Portugal. First up for Canada is Portugal on Saturday (July 12) at 8:30 a.m.
