Making provincial basketball team surprise for Enoch girl

Gabby Jubinville got a bit more than she bargained for after attending the tryouts of a provincial basketball team.

Jubinville, who is Cree and a member of the Enoch First Nation, managed to crack the roster of the Alberta girls under-16 team.

Jubinville had also tried out for the provincial under-15 squad a year ago but didn’t make that club.

So it was somewhat of a surprise for Jubinville, a 5-foot-11 post player, when she was named to this year’s team, rounding out the roster to about a dozen players.
“I was just going to see how I would do at the tryouts,” said Jubinville, who has just completed her Grade 10 classes at Edmonton’s Archbishop O’Leary High School.
About 30 players came out for the tryouts. The first camp was held in April at King’s University College in Edmonton. The final selection camp was staged in May at Concordia University, also in Edmonton.

Jubinville, who has been playing basketball since Grade 4, is the only Aboriginal on the provincial club.

The team also played a pair of exhibition contests against a girls team from South Korea in May in Edmonton.
While the visitors won both of those matches, Jubinville registered six points in her first game and followed that up with a 16-point performance in the second match.

The provincial squad is expected to enter various tournaments throughout western Canada.

Jubinville is coming off her first season of high school ball at Archbishop O’Leary. Though she was eligible to play for Archbishop O’Leary junior girls basketball squad this past season, she opted instead to suit up for the senior team. Jubinville helped the club advance to its league semi-finals.

Somewhat surprisingly, Jubinville managed to make the provincial squad even though she only plays high school ball and does not also suit up for a club team.

Jubinville, who turned 16 on May 4, believes her experience with the Alberta squad will be a huge benefit for her, especially when she returns to suit up for the Archbishop O’Leary side this coming season.

“It’s going to help me lots when I go back to my high school team,” she said.

Besides attending some tournaments, members of the provincial club are expected to get together throughout the summer months for practices in Edmonton, Calgary and Lloydminster.

Jubinville eventually wants to become a teacher. But she also plans to continue playing basketball, in the hopes that opens up some doors for her.

“I want to play in university or college and see where it all lands for me,” she said.

Ideally, Jubinville is hoping to secure an athletic scholarship from an American university.

“I want to go to the (United) States but we’ll see what happens,” she said.