There is a special bond that comes from playing on behalf of the same school; there is another that two players forge when they display their country’s flag on the field. Junior guard Emma Koabel and freshman forward Toby Fournier have both.

Originally from Canada, the two played together in July 2021 at the FIBA ​​U19 World Championships in Madrid and won a bronze medal, becoming the second Canadian team to reach the podium at the tournament. In their first season together at Duke, Koabel and Fournier will take the court with equally high aspirations.

This time, they will experience it under the bright lights of the world stage and the close camaraderie gained during a summer together.

FIBA coach Carly Clarke witnessed the relationship Fournier and Koabel built during the 2023 FIBA ​​U19 tournament.

“They both find ways to connect with their teammates, have fun and enjoy the journey, both on and off the field,” Clarke said.

Koabel and Fournier add their sparks to the ground in very different but complementary ways. Clarke described Koabel as a “great connector”, a goalkeeper with fantastic intuition for finding attacking rhythm and creating opportunities. Fournier, on the other hand, is “high energy”. Her coaches and teammates describe her as dynamic and animated in the way she attacks the game, on and off the field.

“His athleticism also allows him to run around the field and play at a high pace, which often challenges his opponents,” Clarke said.

Sophomore goalie Oluchi Okananwa echoed Clarke’s sentiment that Fournier, along with the rest of the freshman class, brings passion to every game and practice she participates in. In the bronze medal game, she scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Recalling the camaraderie that formed within the Canadian team, Clarke explained how Koabel and Fournier brought fun and laughter into the locker room. During media days, both players film TikTok videos and dance on camera with their teammates.

According to Clarke, Team Canada “was always developing team dances or making fun of the stupid things each other was doing. And the team wasn’t afraid to do it.

The world stage draws crowds, but Fournier and Koabel know how to handle intense attention. Koabel made the ACC and NCAA tournaments during his first two years, while Fournier made headlines with viral videos of his dunk midway through his junior year of high school. However, the Madrid stage represented a challenge. When the Canadians played Spain and France, the European teams, being much closer to home, attracted fans who filled the stadium.

Team Canada lost in the semifinals to Spain, but bounced back in the bronze medal match against the host nation the next day, so both Blue Devils took home the hardware in Toronto. The Canadian coach spoke enthusiastically, both literally and figuratively, about the environment Madrid created for the tournament that summer.

“We got to play on an LED field, which was the first time that had ever been done. So it was a super special experience.” Clarke said: “And then you play in front of big crowds. We’ve played in front of 10,000 people on several occasions.”

Koabel and Fournier will carry the lessons they learned in France and the friendship they forged playing Canadian basketball for years into what is arguably the Blue Devils’ most promising season under Kara Lawson’s tenure . More eyes than ever are on women’s college basketball as it reaches a new level of competitiveness, but international play has given Koabel and Fournier invaluable experience against more physical and hard-hitting opponents.

The impact of international football has also extended beyond their own time on the pitch: about the coach What Kara Lawson would remember from the Paris Olympics last summer, Koabel described the intensity the Blue Devils gained from Team USA.

“She shows us their work ethic and how important it is to work as hard as even the greatest players in the world,” Koabel said. “They don’t give up.”

As Duke enters the season with aspirations higher than ever, Fournier and Koabel will play separate roles, but with a cohesion that takes years to form.

Editor’s note: This piece is one of several pieces in The Chronicle’s 2024-25 Duke women’s basketball preview. Find out the rest here.