By John Elambo

Brianna Breedy has made the most  of the game her father taught her.

As a daughter of a Scarborough Basketball Association coach, Brian Breedy, Brianna said having her dad as her coach was a good experience. Coach Breedy was her biggest supporter as well as her biggest critic, which made her the player she is today.

“He always pushed me to be the best possible, even when I didn’t want to,” said Brianna, who played for the SBA from Grade 4 all the way to Grade 12. “He saw the potential in me when I didn’t. He was always there to give me pointers and run through drills with me.”

Brian enjoyed playing one-on-one games with his daughter in their driveway, as he watched her skills develop.

“After Grade 10, it was no contest because she won every game after that,” he said.

Brianna will never forget the moment when her team won the Youth Basketball of America (YBOA) national championship in Florida in 2014. She described it as her fondest memory with the SBA.

“The competition and the overall experience are something that I will never forget,” she said, adding hows grateful she is the SBA allowed to her to build friendships and relationships. “I have met some incredible people through the organization and built friendships that will last a lifetime,” she said.

Breedy also got a chance to show her game at the Canadian national team tryouts for three straight years.

“That experience was so great, being recognized as one of the best players in the country and being surrounded by top level coaches,” she said, “The competition was always great as you are going up against some of the best players in the country and there was never a dull moment during the tryouts.”

Being invited to those camps meant a lot to her because playing for the national team is something kids often dream about accomplishing. It made her realize that the work she was putting in was paying off.

Breedy is now playing NCAA Division 1  basketball with Oakland University. With three college seasons under her belt, she’s learned a lot and continues to improve.

“I’ve learned what it takes to compete at such a high level and what sacrifices have to be made to do so,” she said. “I have learned what it means to be a great teammate.”

“Being at university compared to high school is a whole new level.  Everything is at a greater magnitude and basketball is taken a lot more seriously.”

Her father felt a sense of pride when she made it to the NCAA.

“The work she put in to accomplish her dream since she was in the sixth grade” he said. “She always wanted to play in the NCAA.”

Breedy found the speed, pace, physicality and the intensity of the game was hard to adjust to at first.

“There was so much information given to me in such a short period time that at first it was overwhelming but after a while it was easier to process the information,” she said.

The former Scarborough Basketball Association player was the top ranked point guard in Canada in the 2018 recruiting class, named a Top-10 player by Crown Sports, and helped the SBA Lady Blues capture the JUEL  Girls Elite League of Ontario Championship in 2017 and 2018. She also led Pickering High school to three Division I Provincial Regional championships (2015, 2016, 2017).

She was named 2017 Ms. Basketball in Durham Region, was a two-time JUEL League First-Team selection (2017, 2018), a 2018 All-Defensive Team, and a Molten All-Academic Team selection. She was also selected as the starting point guard in the inaugural Bio Steel All-Canadian All-Star Game.

“Looking back at these accomplishments, it blows my mind a bit. It reminds me how blessed I am to have accomplished such feats,” said Breedy, who played multiple sports growing up, including ringette and soccer.

“I have been a part of some great teams with great players that have been able to accomplish great things. I will never take what I have accomplished for granted.” 

Breedy’s main basketball goal is to win the Horizon league championship this year but her non-basketball goal is to get into a DPT program next year. 

Her father is proud of all of her accomplishments in basketball, but he’s more impressed with her academics.

“She has managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA in her three years of University, studying Health Sciences, while continuing to play at the highest level of amateur basketball in the NCAA,” he said.