TEAM ONTARIO ALUMNI DANIELLE BOIAGO CONTINUES HER SUCCESS AT MCMASTER UNIVERSITY Danielle Boiago is a shining example of how hard work and strong support and coaching from an Ontario Basketball Association (OBA) club program can help a player achieve success wherever they go, be it at a university down the road or on a court across the Atlantic. Boiago made a name for herself coming up through the Blessed Sacrament program, an OBA club in her native Hamilton. It was as a member of the Blessed Sacrament Yellow Jackets that Boiago got her first taste of basketball on the world stage. The talented guard with a nose for scoring was chosen to represent Team Hamilton at the 2009 International Children's Games in Athens, Greece. She starred for her squad in Greece, lifting the team to the gold medal. The summer of elite hoops continued for Boiago that same year. After returning from Greece, she joined a powerful Team Ontario and represented her province at the U15 National Championship in Kamloops, B.C. An impressive performance there allowed her star to shine a little brighter. She finished second in the tournament in scoring, averaging 13 points per game, and was named tournament most valuable player, while lifting Ontario to the national crown.
Photo credit: Blair Hough
Not willing to settle for her success with Team Ontario U15, Boiago trained hard with her Blessed Sacrament teammates and coaches to earn a sport on Ontario's U17 entry to the national championship in each of the next two years. In her first year with Team Ontario U17 in 2010, Boiago's squad settled for silver but returned to the top of the podium in 2011. In 2012 Boiago competed for Blessed Sacrament once again, this time in the OBA-sanctioned JUEL , a league for the top U-19 female hoopsters in Ontario. Once again she was a star among stars in the JUEL circuit, being named the most valuable player of the league's all-star game. When Boiago announced she would play her university basketball with her hometown McMaster Marauders in 2012-13, the city of Hamilton was abuzz. And after having a phenomenal rookie campaign in Ontario University Athletics for the Marauders, where she led the OUA West in rookie scoring and finished eighth overall (15.3 PPG), Boiago was named the OUA West rookie of the year.
Photo credit: Blair Hough
Her accomplishments and success at every level of her basketball career can be traced back to her time as a member of an Ontario Basketball Association club; Hamilton's Blessed Sacrament.