In what felt like an inevitability, the No. 1 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies emerged from the western side of the U Sports Final 8 bracket. With a dominating 85-63 victory over the host UBC Thunderbirds, the Huskies punched their ticket to a second straight U Sports championship game.
Once again, the Huskies relied on a bevy of players to power the highest-scoring game of the Final 8 tournament thus far. Andrea Dodig led the way with her 19 points, while four other players notched double-digit point totals, including star Gage Grassick.
After Saskatchewan’s quarterfinal win over the Alberta Pandas, Huskies head coach Lisa Thomaidis told the Charlatan that her team’s shooting held them back, and they instead relied on rock-solid defence to secure the win. Grassick agreed that the Huskies’ typical explosive offence returned for the semifinals, after shaking off some of the nerves of a new tournament in a different city.
“Just confidence, we’re all settled in,” she said. “I think just settling in and an extra day here in Vancouver always helps.”
The Huskies didn’t have it easy as the invaders of the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, as a raucous T-Birds crowd cheered relentlessly against the Canada West champions.
“You love to play in those games,” Grassick said, who only days earlier was back in Saskatoon in front of her own home crowd against UBC.
Even with relentless energy behind them, the Thunderbirds couldn’t stop the Huskies in the first quarter, conceding 26 points to a Saskatchewan squad that looked entirely undeterred in their mission to return to the championship game. For their part, the hosts could only muster 12 points against the lockdown defence of Grassick and the Huskies.
“We know they’re a great team, they have the player of the year [Grassick], a very well-deserved player of the year,” UBC head coach Isabel Ormond said. “They had players step up … so it’s one of those bittersweet moments where we played hard and we faced a great team that was good and super physical.”
Ormond shared that T-Birds guard Olivia Weekes required stitches midway through the game, a battle scar born of the Huskies’ relentless pace and physicality.
By the half, the Huskies built a near insurmountable 49-27 lead over the Thunderbirds, led by Grassick, Maya Flindall and Ella Murphy Wiebe, who each notched eight points in the first two quarters. Saskatchewan’s depth turned into the Thunderbirds’ worst nightmare, as eight of nine Huskies who touched the court in the first half put points on the board.
But Saskatchewan’s scalding-hot start didn’t go unanswered as the Thunderbirds clawed back after the half, but with only two points skimmed off the Huskies’ deficit by the end of the third quarter.
That was as much of a comeback as the T-Birds would muster, as the Huskies wiped the floor with the hosts, scoring the highest point total of the tournament by that point.
With another win in the books, the Huskies were left waiting for their finals opponent to come out of the eastern side of the bracket.
As Carleton Ravens and uOttawa Gee-Gees players filed down the hallway behind her, Grassick said she’d be keeping a close eye on the game’s result. Last March, Grassick and the Huskies were dealt a devastating championship loss to Carleton.
“Such an amazing Carleton team, they had a really unbelievable season. We’ve really learned what we learned last year playing against them and really well-coached and great athletes on that team,” she said. “Just taking it one possession at a time always helps.”
With files from Lauren Kasowski / The Ubyssey
Featured photo by Janson Duench / The Charlatan.
