EDMONTON

It felt like summer in Edmonton on Tuesday, when the sun shone brightly, the thermometer climbed above 20 C, and playground basketball courts filled with kids wearing LeBron jerseys and Air Jordan sneakers.

Perfect time to begin selling what organizers hope will be August’s hottest ticket.

The International Basketball Federation and Canada Basketball announced tickets are now available for the 2015 FIBA Americas Women’s Championship, an Olympic qualifying tournament that will be hosted at the Saville Community Sports Centre Aug. 9–16. Spectators can now purchase either individual game tickets or packages through Ticketmaster and the University of Alberta sales office.

“I think this event is optimal for anyone who is a sports fan,” said Michele O’Keefe, president & CEO of Canada Basketball.

“These young women are highly competitive, it’s an incredible level of basketball that will be on stage in Edmonton in August and I think that anyone who comes to a game will be thoroughly entertained and couldn’t help themselves from becoming big fans of Canadian women’s basketball.”

Canada is a top contender, even favoured by some, to win the 10-team tournament and punch its ticket to the Rio 2016 Games. Canada Basketball’s senior women’s national team, which makes its base in Edmonton and trains at the SCSC, has been rapidly progressing in recent years. After reaching the quarter-finals of the 2012 Olympics, it won silver at 2013 Americas tournament, then finished fifth in last summer’s World Championship.

The home court advantage cannot be understated, particularly in a region populated by South American countries known for passionate fans in hostile arenas. Canada has only once won the Americas Championship, in its only previous time hosting, the 1995 edition in Hamilton.

“You never know what kind of crowds you’re going to come up against in some of these other gyms, and to actually have a home crowd and be in your home gym is an incredible thing,” O’Keefe said.

“From an international perspective versus Canadian perspective, having the creature comforts of living in your own country, and for our team, (playing) in your home training city, it’s an incredible opportunity.”

The preliminary round of the tournament will run Aug. 9 to 13, featuring four games daily, with tip-off at 1 p.m., 3:15, 6:30 and 8:45. Each of Canada’s four preliminary matches will take place at 6:30, beginning against Puetro Rico on Aug. 9. The semifinals are slated for Aug. 15, followed by the gold and bronze medal contests on Aug. 16 at times to be announced.

Single-game tickets are $10 (kids) and $18 (adults) for the preliminary round, and $12 and $20 for the playoffs. A four-game package for Canada’s preliminary-round games costs $30 and $54, while a full tournament pass runs $52 and $92.

“We want every Canada game sold out,” O’Keefe emphasized. “The prices of the tickets are very fair, we’ve tried to make them as family-friendly as we can, and we’re trying to get the word out across Alberta and B.C. and Saskatchewan on either side.

“We’ve got some volunteers that are coming from other provinces because they want to be a part of this event, so we know that there will be a lot of people there. We’re really hoping that the locals embrace it because it’s just such an exciting moment in time for our women’s basketball team.”

@SunBrianSwane

brian.swane@sunmedia.ca