U of S Huskies bring Bronze Baby home after clinching national championship

Liam O'Connor · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 17, 2025 5:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

The victorious University of Saskatchewan women's hoops squad returned to cheers and hugs from household and fans astatine Saskatoon International Airport connected Monday.

The Huskies engraved their sanction successful the past books connected Sunday aft a ascendant 85-66 successful Vancouver implicit the Carleton Ravens — who were vying for a 3rd consecutive title — to instrumentality the 2025 INDOCHINO U SPORTS Women's Final Eight tournament.

It's the women's team's 3rd nationalist title successful programme history, avenging a nonaccomplishment to the Ravens successful past year's final.

Fourth-year defender Gage Grassick, who scored a play precocious 35 points successful the final, was named title MVP.

"It feels unbelievable," Grassick said astatine the airdrome connected Monday. "It's an [in]describable feeling and I'm ace excited we got to bring location the Bronze Baby [the sanction of the nationalist trophy] to Saskatoon." 

WATCH | Huskies players onshore astatine the Sasktoon airdrome with the trophy successful hand: 

The squad dynamic clicked for the Huskies connected the weekend, Grassick says.

"Throughout the full season, that's what we've been moving on," she said. "Just consistency and being capable to play, you know, 100 per cent of the crippled astatine that level and that speed, and we were fortunate capable that this play it clicked."

Assessing her ain performance, Grassick credited the squad for mounting screens, and pulling down rebounds that led to second-chance points.

"I accidental this truthful often, similar truthful overmuch [of] what happens connected the hoops tribunal doesn't amusement up connected a stat sheet," Grassick said.

The Huskies person been a large unit for the past 15 years, winning 3 titles successful that span and going to the last different 3 times.

Head manager Lisa Thomaidis said the Huskies squad was firing connected each cylinders successful the tournament, particularly aft beating the Alberta Pandas successful the quarter-finals.

"I thought aft that time we we're rolling," Thomaidis said. "Our squad was ace focused, and played their champion hoops erstwhile it meant the most."

Thomaidis says playing the Ravens for the 2nd twelvemonth successful a enactment helped her squad prepare.

"We learned tons of lessons from playing against them past twelvemonth successful the final," she said. "And I thought we truly took those lessons and made immoderate improvements, and were precise good prepared this clip around."

Thomaidis had precocious praise for Grassick.

"She showed wherefore she's the champion subordinate successful the state close now — and it's not adjacent close," Thomaidis said.  "But we had tons of contributions from galore antithetic players and that truly was the quality maker."

For now, Grassick says, the Huskies merit a mates days off.

"We're going to observe the accomplishment we had this year, and past commencement reasoning astir adjacent twelvemonth and however we tin proceed our success."

The full Huskies roster inactive has eligibility near truthful volition beryllium among the favourites to repeat.