Sask. basketball player to star in BioSteel all-star game

Nevaeh Ferrara Horne moved a long way from home in order to take her game to the next level.

And she’s already begun to see her hard work pay off.

The 17-year-old from Regina will be featured in Sunday’s BioSteel All-Canadian Basketball Game — an annual all-star game highlighting some of the best high school ball players in the country.

NBA players like Lu Dort, Jamal Murray and RJ Barrett have all participated in the game before.

Horne and three of her teammates at Southwest Academy Girls Prep in London, Ontario made the girls roster.

On Feb. 28, Horne and her teammates were in their team house watching in anticipation as the Raptors took on the Bulls — not just for the outcome of the game — but to see the unveiled rosters for the BioSteel all star game which was going to be revealed at halftime.

Horne said they were watching closely for the results because they had been nominated.

But when she saw her name for the first time she was still shocked.

“I was kind of in disbelief because it was one of my goals for a really long time,” Horne said. “And when I finally saw my name, I was just I was super excited and just happy that a lot of my hard work has been recognized.”

Horne moved to London to further her basketball career. She thought the level of competition would be higher and she’d get a better chance of exposure.

“When I first came here, I didn’t really know what to expect,” she said. “But quickly I realized how (much more) competitive it is. We have practices every day. Two to three hours, sometimes in the morning, sometimes on weekends. And there was a day actually where we had four games in a day too. So we play more games (than) I would in Regina.

I just thought it was a step that I needed to take in order to take my game to the next level.”

Horne also made the list for RBC Training Ground’s top 100 list, a program that looks for Canadian athletes with Olympic potential based on “speed; power; strength; and endurance against sport-specific, high-performance benchmarks over the course of a few hours in front of program officials” according to its website.

After performing well, Horne caught the attention of Rowing Canada and Triathalon Canada. She said both of them have contacted her in hopes of recruiting her.

But she’s still mainly focused on basketball as of now.

After being making the BioSteel roster, Horne said she’s going try to make the best of it.

“Just really soak it in and enjoy the moment because it’s something (I’ve wanted to) play in since grade eight,” she said. “And everyone’s going to be good who’s playing and so honestly, I’m just going to go work hard and (try) my best and just have fun.”

Horne has plans to play basketball for a division I NCAA program in the U.S.. She said she has been offered a scholarship but she’ll put off making an announcement for at least a couple of weeks.

“It’s been a really long process and I’ve spoken to a bunch of schools but right away when I spoke to this particular school and coaching staff, I just knew right away (it) was the place for me,” Horne said. “And a lot of the things that the school has aligns with what I want in a school and I don’t think there’s much more that can top that.”

She is following the footsteps of other standouts from Souhwest who went on to play Division I NCAA basketball like Lemyah Hylton and Shantavia Dawkins.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct a misspelling of Dawkins’ last name.