Michelle Plouffe

Michelle Plouffe

Free agent
Position	Small forward
Personal information
Born	September 15, 1992 Edmonton, Alberta
Nationality	Canadian
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Career information
High school	Harry Ainlay (Edmonton, Alberta)
College	Utah (2010–2014)
WNBA draft	2014 / Round: 2 / Pick: 19th overall
Selected by the Seattle Storm
Playing career	2014–present
Medals Women's basketball Representing  Canada Pan American Games 2015 Toronto Team

Michelle Plouffe (born September 15, 1992) is a Canadian basketball player who played for the University of Utah located in Salt Lake City, Utah. She played for the Canada women's national basketball team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[1] She is 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) tall.^[2]

Michelle graduated from Harry Ainlay Composite High School located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She is the daughter of Laurie and Daryl Plouffe. She has four siblings; her twin sister, Katherine, played basketball at Marquette University located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and her older sister, Andrea, played basketball at the University of Washington located in Seattle, Washington.

FIBA

Plouffe played on the team representing Canada at the 2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women held in Thailand from July 23 until August 2, 2009. She scored six points and 4.2 rebounds per game, helping Canada to a fourth-place finish.^[3]

She also played for Canada at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship held in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She averaged 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, helping the team to a third-place finish.^[4]

In 2012 she was named to the national team which competed at the 2012 Olympics in London.^[5]

Michelle along with her sister Katherine were both named to the Canadian women's national basketball team. The sisters played together on the junior national team several years ago.^[6] The team qualified for the world championships by finishing second in the FIBA Americas championship. The team traveled to Bridgeport, Connecticut, for an exhibition game against the USA national team.^[7] The USA team won 75–51.^[8]

Pan Am games 2015

Plouffe was a member of the Canada women's national basketball team which participated in basketball at the 2015 Pan American Games held in Toronto, Ontario July 10 to 26, 2015. Canada opened the preliminary rounds with an easy 101–38 win over Venezuela. The following day they beat Argentina 73–58. The final preliminary game was against Cuba; both teams were 2–0, so the winner would win the group. The game went down to the wire with Canada eking out a 71–68 win.^[9] Canada would face Brazil in the semifinal.

Everything seemed to go right in the semifinal game. Canada opened the game with an 11–2 run on seven consecutive points by Miranda Ayim. Miah-Marie Langlois contributed five assists. In the third quarter Canada strongly out rebounded Brazil and hit 69% of their field goals to score 33 points in the quarter. Lizanne Murphy and Nirra Fields hit three-pointers to help extend the lead to 68–39 at the end of three quarters. Canada continued to dominate in the fourth quarter with three-pointers by Kia Nurse and Kim Gaucher. Canada went on to win the game 91–63 to earn a spot in the gold-medal game against the USA.^[10]

The gold-medal game matched up the host team Canada against USA, in a sold out arena dominated by fans in red and white and waving the Canadian flag. The Canadian team, arm in arm, sang O Canada as the respective national anthems were played.

After trading baskets early the US edged out to a double-digit lead in the second quarter. However the Canadians, spurred on by the home crowd cheering, fought back and tied up the game at halftime. In the third quarter, it was Canada's time to shine as they outscore the US 26–15. The lead would reach as high as 18 points. The USA would fight back, but not all the way and Canada won the game and the gold-medal 81–73. It was Canada's first gold-medal in basketball in the Pan Am games. Nurse was the star for Canada with 33 points, hitting 11 of her 12 free-throw attempts in 10 of her 17 field-goal attempts including two of three three-pointers. Plouffe contributed ta rebound, and a steal.^{[11][12][13][14]}

University of Utah statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

YEAR[15]	SCHOOL	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2010-11	Utah	35	34	29.5	0.431	0.261	0.755	7.3	0.8	1.2	1.2	13.7
2011-12	Utah	32	32	33.9	0.389	0.306	0.777	8.2	1.8	1.3	1.4	14.1
2012-13	Utah	31	31	33.8	0.394	0.346	0.728	8.5	2.7	2.0	1.3	16.7
2013-14	Utah	29	28	34.9	0.406	0.309	0.699	10.6	2.6	2.1	0.8	18.4
Total	Utah	127	125	32.9	0.401	0.309	0.734	8.6	1.9	1.6	1.2	15.6

References

1. "Women's Basketball". London2012.com. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
2. "Michelle Plouffe Profile". University of Utah. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
3. "2009 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women - Plouffe". FIBA. Retrieved 2 Jul 2015.
4. "2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women - Michelle Plouffe". FIBA. Retrieved 2 Jul 2015.
5. "2012 Olympic Women". FIBA. Retrieved 2 Jul 2015.
6. SWANE, BRIAN (September 12, 2014). "Edmonton's Katherine and Michelle Plouffe named to Canadian women's basketball team for World Championships". Edmonton Sun. Retrieved 17 Sep 2014.
7. Fuller, Jim (2014-06-30). "Bridgeport to host USA vs. Canada women's basketball exhibition". New Haven Register. Journal Register CT. Retrieved 17 Sep 2014.
8. Elliott, Rich (September 16, 2014). "U.S. women beat Canada in Bridgeport exhibition". CTPost. Hearst Communications Inc. Retrieved 17 Sep 2014.
9. "2015 Women's Pan American Games Schedule". USA Basketball. Retrieved 23 Jul 2015.
10. "Women's National Team Tops Brazil 91-63 To Move On To Toronto 2015 Final". CANADA BASKETBALL. Retrieved 23 Jul 2015.
11. "U.S. Women Collect Silver At Pan American Games After Falling To Host Canada 81-73". USA Basketball. Jul 20, 2015. Retrieved 23 Jul 2015.
12. "US Canada box score". USA Basketball. Jul 20, 2015. Retrieved 23 Jul 2015.
13. Caple, Jim. "Battle of UConn Hoops Stars Goes To Canada in Pan Am Final". ESPN. Retrieved 23 Jul 2015.
14. Smith, Doug (Jul 20, 2015). "Canada wins historic Pan Am women's basketball gold". Toronto Star. Retrieved 23 Jul 2015.
15. "Michelle Plouffe Bio" (PDF). CANADA BASKETBALL. Retrieved 1 Jul 2015.