Aurelie LeBlanc Florent Is Headed to Southern Conference This Fall

On June 6, 2014, Aurelie LeBlanc-Florent (5’5″, PG, Dawson College, 2014), of Montreal QC, announced her commitment to play with the Furman Palladins of the NCAA’s Southern Conference (SoCon) for the Fall of 2014.

Being able to make this leap to the next level has been a dream come true and a fitting culmination to what she feels was all of her hard work.

“It feels great to be in the position where I can be part of something special and realize my dream,” said LeBlanc-Florent. “It was definitely a tough process for me because I didn’t know what was going to happen but I kept faith that something good was going to happen and I worked on my game so I was going to be ready when my opportunity will come.”

It was a thought that was echoed by Furman Head Coach, Jackie Carson, via press release.

“We are so grateful to find a player with Aurelie’s talent and passion for the game so late in the recruiting process,” said Carson.

LeBlanc-Florent is a smart player that relies heavily on good fundamentals out of the Point Guard position: Read the defence, set up the offence and create for others before looking for your own opportunity. She is an accurate 3-point shooter as well, able to score them in bunches when given the chance, which creates challenges for defenders that want to collapse into passing lanes.

LeBlanc-Florent believes that these are all skills Coach Carson will leverage when it comes time to suit up in Furman purple and grey.

“I think she will use my shooting skills and my abilities to create shot for myself and my teammates,” she said about how she thinks Coach Carson intends on using her, “As well as being a vocal player on the court to use me as a combo guard. I think I can play the 1 and 2 position and I think it will fit well with the great guards already on the team.”

These principles have already served the Guard well through a well decorated career at Dawson where she had earned a Bronze, Silver and Gold CÉGEP medals with the Blues over her three seasons there.

With her move to Furman, located in Greenville, SC, LeBlanc-Florent believes she sets herself up for continued success, which was a motivating factor for making the connection with the Paladins.

“From a basketball point of view Furman is a great basketball program with an amazing coaching staff. They finished second in the southern conference last year. I feel blessed to be part of this program and to learn from the coaches and my teammates for the next four years,” said the Montrealer.

LeBlanc-Florent who would like to Major in Business.  And with the importance of education not being lost on her, she made it a point to connect with a school that can not only put it together on the court, but one that can set her up for her to succeed upon graduation.   And having French as her mother-tongue, Furman’s low teacher to student ratio was quite appealing to her.

“Academically, Furman is one of the best universities in the US and they have a great business program so it is a great opportunity for me to learn a lot and have a great education. Also, as a French-Canadian the fact that its smaller classes will help me a lot for my grades.”

LeBlanc-Florent joins fellow Dawson College Blue, Caylah Cruickshank who is also bound for the NCAA later this Fall.