At 18 years old, Gabby Morash already has quite the basketball resume, which will only continue to grow as she heads to a NCAA Division I school in the fall.
Born and raised in Dartmouth, Gabby headed to Ontario for her high school basketball career. Playing as a guard/point guard, she first attended Capital Courts Academy in Ottawa and then played two seasons at King’s Christian Collegiate in Oakville. Having had the opportunity to compete in the Ontario Basketball Scholastic Association league all three years, Gabby says she learned a lot of valuable lessons.
“It was nice playing against really good competition and just being pushed and held to a higher standard,” says Gabby.
It was while she was in Ontario last summer that she made the Nova Scotia Canada Games Women’s Basketball Team for the 2025 Games in Saint John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Not being able to make any of the practices until she returned to Nova Scotia, she says the team did a very good job at welcoming her back.
“The team itself, like our U17 team, we were very close. There was a lot of laughs and a lot of good times at the Canada Games,” she recalls.
As for the experience of the games themselves, people say that competing at the Canada Games is life changing, and Gabby says she has to agree. “It’s something that I’ll remember for sure. I would almost say it’s like a core memory.”
Team Nova Scotia upset Team Quebec in the quarterfinals with a final score of 69-59 and then after a loss to Alberta in the semi-finals, they took home the bronze medal, defeating British Columbia by nearly 30 points. It was the third time in the province’s history that the women’s basketball team medaled at the Canada Summer Games.
Gabby says being a part of this historic win for Team Nova Scotia felt like a home-game victory.
“Nova Scotia always does an amazing job at supporting, I would say all their sports, but basketball specifically,” she says. “In Newfoundland it almost felt like we were at home because the East Coast came out to support and all of our teams and our parents and grandparents and everything. It was awesome.”
Flashing forward to this summer, Gabby made another momentous team, this time taking her to Irapuato, Mexico.
In early June Canada Basketball announced the U18 Women’s National Team roster ahead of the FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup and out of the 12 athletes selected, Gabby was the lone Nova Scotian and one of only two chosen from the East Coast.
“I cried when I learned I made the team,” says Gabby. “It’s an honor, especially being from Nova Scotia. There haven’t been a lot of people to do it. I know Daneesha Provo, Shay Colley, like those big names, but it was kind of a full circle moment for me because I looked up to them and they kind of paved the way for me and now I would say I’m doing that for other people.”
Playing as a starter, Gabby says it was nice to receive that further confirmation and reassurance that she was in the right place and that she could compete with the best.
Team Canada beat Argentina in a close semifinal game and then took home silver after a tough fought battle against the United States.
“We were obviously upset, but the growth that we had throughout the tournament and the three weeks that we were together, it all came together during that moment, which was really nice to see,” says Gabby. “In the locker room, I remember, I said to everybody, ‘There’s nothing else we could have done. I’m proud of everybody, we gave it our all.’”
Only adding to her amazing year, in April Gabby was part of the All Canadian Basketball Games. An event in which 24 of the top senior male and female Canadian high school basketball players are invited for a weekend of on-and-off court training, practices and scrimmages in front of NBA personnel and competitions broadcasted live on TSN.
But just like so many Nova Scotian athletes who have gone on to accomplish great things, Gabby started her athletic journey in the minor leagues, playing in the Metro Basketball Association for the Dartmouth Celtics.
Joining at six years old, Gabby comes from a basketball family, with her mom, brother and uncle all playing the game. She says her family overall has been a huge support for her, but none more than her mom, who has been her anchor, holding her down through everything.
She says it was difficult for both her and her mom being away from each other her whole high school career, but with her family behind her, and the love she often feels from people across the province as she reaches new milestones, she is ready to take on High Point University in North Carolina.
Bringing her high basketball IQ and strong playmaking to the team, Gabby hopes to make an impact both on and off the court.
“Winning a championship is obviously a goal, and they’ve won a lot in the last few years, which is awesome,” says Gabby. “But I’m just really excited for the opportunity, especially because that’s been a goal of mine to play Division I basketball and High Point seemed like the best spot to do it for me.”
