CAN - Don't be satisfied: Plouffe

Puerto Montt (FIBA U19 Championship for Women) - It was quite simply one of those world championship moments to remember - 1:00pm on 31 July 2009 at the Thai-Japan Youth Centre in Bangkok.

The FIBA U19 World Championship for Women had reached the Quarter Final stage, and the Canadian team, who had snuck through Group C in fourth position with a 3-3 record, was expected to be dispatched easily by the undefeated Australians.

In basketball things don't always go to plan though, and what followed was one of Canadian basketball's greatest moments in recent times. "It felt amazing!" said Canada centre Michelle Plouffe, reflecting on the 50-49 upset as she prepared for this year's world championship in Chile.

"That game was truly a team effort. Everyone had a job to do and everyone did it. We competed, we were resilient and we left it all on the court. We really proved to ourselves what we can do as a team when we play together," she added.

Michelle is the only player from that team, which would ultimately finish fourth after losing 51-58 to Argentina in the bronze medal playoff, on Canada's squad for Chile. However, she is confident she can pass what she learned in Thailand to her less experienced teammates, who include her twin sister Katherine.

"I think that competing at the 2009 world championships gives me a bit of an advantage knowing how much work it requires to be ready for the games. It comes down to being extremely mentally tough when your body is exhausted," she said with wisdom beyond her years.

"I'll just say (to my teammates) that we need to play hard every second of every game if we want to get the result we want. We need to leave it all on the court. We've been training for this and we need to play confident and trust in each other."

Plouffe was Canada's fourth leading scorer and rebounder at the 2009 tournament, and she has improved markedly since. At last year's Americas U18 Championship she led the entire tournament in scoring (14.4 ppg) and was third in rebounding (9.4 rpg) as Canada claimed third place with a 4-1 record.

Last season at the University of Utah she was a revelation, averaging 13.7 ppg and 7.3 rpg, and the 193cm pivot puts her form down to working hard on her weaknesses. "Offensively I have worked on my shot more so that I can be more of a threat outside as well as finishing my shots inside the paint," she said.

"And defensively I continue to work on my quickness to get around the bigger girls that I will be guarding."

Like most players though, her mind is on team success, and Plouffe has high expectations for her team in Chile. "We are going there not only to compete, but to medal," she said confidently.

"Two years ago we had the mentality, 'don't be satisfied'. So even if we may upset a team one game, we can't just be done after that. We have to keep pushing ourselves and reach our full potential as a team in the tournament. If we do that and don't medal, at least we know we have given our all."

FIBA