Being outrebounded in every game by double digits was one of the downfalls of the UBC Okanagan Heat women’s basketball team last season.
With the recruitment of players like the 6-foot-1 Amanda Pearson, head coach Claire Meadows expects such statistics to become a thing of the past.
From Surrey and a soon-to-be graduate of Fraser Heights Secondary, Pearson will bring size and rebounding abilities to the Heat roster for the 2018-19 Canada West season,
Pearson hails from an athletic family, with a sister playing basketball at McMaster and both parents being provincial level athletes.
Pearson averaged 19.5 points per game this past season for Fraser Heights playing league games in the AA Fraser Valley South League. She was both a Fraser Valley and Surrey Valley all-star and a member of the Surrey Firefighter Tournament Dream Team for 2017-18.
Playing high level club basketball, Pearson was a member of the BC’s Finest squad from 2015 through 2017 and travelled extensively throughout the US and Canada for games.
With that level of training and exposure and showing potential Pearson found herself as one of the Top 20 Grade 12 players in BC, as listed by BC Sports Hub.
UBC Okanagan Heat women’s basketball and Canada Junior U18 women’s national team head coach, Claire Meadows, looks forward to the addition of the multi-talented Pearson.
“We are very excited to add Amanda to our roster,” said Meadows. “In addition to being an excellent student, Amanda has played a lot of competitive basketball and has had a successful club and high school career. Amanda will add some much needed size to our roster and a scoring presence inside.”
Loving the Kelowna lifestyle Pearson has decided to attend UBC Okanagan beginning in general studies with a desire to purse a course that she is passionate about.
To immerse in the UBC Okanagan experience Pearson, who also stared on the soccer pitch as a centre-back for Coastal FC in BCSPL, will live on-campus in her first year.
“I chose UBCO because of the beautiful campus (who doesn’t love Kelowna), the awesome people, and the hardworking basketball,” says Pearson. “I’m really excited to kickoff my university experience playing for an amazing basketball program and I can’t wait to contribute to the team on and off the court.”
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