Golden Huskies receive warm welcome after U Sports women’s basketball title repeat

As the final seconds ticked down on the clock at Amphithéâtre Desjardins in Quebec City, Que. on Sunday night, University of Saskatchewan Huskies forward Ella Murphy Wiebe barely contained her excitement.

Finishing off her U Sports career celebrating with her Huskies teammates on the court, lifting the ‘Bronze Baby’ trophy once again.

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“So much relief,” Murphy Wiebe said. “To end my Huskie career this way, only one team can do this a year. I’m just so grateful that I’m on this team, this year.”

The Huskies have returned home to Saskatoon after a chaotic, but jubilant 24 hours since claiming the program’s fourth U Sports women’s basketball championship and second in as many years with a 77-68 victory over the University of New Brunswick.

Murphy Wiebe took home tournament MVP honours after limiting New Brunswick star Katie Butts to just 13 points in Sunday’s gold medal game while dropping 13 points and 10 rebounds herself.

“Katie Butts is one of the best players I’ve ever played against,” Murphy Wiebe said.

“She was so difficult to guard, at both ends she was stopping me. There were lots of times during the game where we weren’t scoring as much, I’m just really proud of our team. There wasn’t a moment where we gave up.”

Prior to Sunday’s gold medal performance, Murphy Wiebe recorded arguably the best game of her Huskies career in the semifinal against host Laval with 26 points and 16 rebounds to give Saskatchewan the opportunity to defend their U Sports crown.

“We’ve know that she’s had that in her since day one,” said Huskies head coach and U Sports women’s basketball coach of the year Lisa Thomaidis.

“Unfortunately, she’s struggled with so many injuries and setbacks through the course of her. To see her just be able to showcase the athlete and the talent that she is was so rewarding.”

The Huskies were greeted by around a dozen supporters at Saskatoon International Airport on Monday holding balloons and homemade signs for the sleep deprived, but ecstatic national champions.

Graduating star Gage Grassick was among that group, closing out her decorated Huskies career with a second U Sports gold medal around her neck.

“This is such a special team and it’s been a special team for the past how many years?” Grassick said.

“Just being able to be back-to-back national (champions) is unbelievable.”

The Huskies balanced on the knife’s edge of seeing their season come to an end several times at U Sports nationals, not only with their lacklustre offensive performance in semifinals but a third quarter comeback by the Reds which erased a 12-point Saskatchewan lead.

Grassick said their mental toughness to not let either game spiral out of control is what set them apart from their competition in Quebec City.

“It’s basketball, sometimes the ball doesn’t go in the hoop,” Grassick said.

“We just have to find ways to get stops and prevent the other team from scoring as much as they were, and then just make adjustments on the fly.”

Grassick, Murphy Wiebe, Andrea Dodig, Téa DeMong and Anna Maelde have wrapped up their careers in green and white after forming the nucleus of a program which has reached three straight U Sports gold medal games.

In Thomaidis’ eyes, there are few teams at the U Sports level which have achieved as much success as the Huskies during their championship run.

“This is going to go down as a legendary team for sure,” Thomaidis said.

“This group of fifth-years that got us to three consecutive national championship finals, that just doesn’t happen.”

Along with closing the book on a veteran core which has spent the last half decade playing together, the Huskies also boast eight homegrown Saskatchewan players on their roster.

The sustained success on the national stage is even something that is surprising Thomaidis now with the book closed on the 2025-26 season.

“Really, there’s no way a team from here should be doing this,” Thomaidis said.

“They made themselves into the players that they are today and the team that we’ve been able to develop. Just so talented, so tough and so connected.”

While the Huskies are slated to return several key contributors next fall including guards Maya Flindall and Logan Reider, this group is one which broke program records and achieved a 51-game win streak which stretched nearly a year and a half.

The relationships are what stand out to Murphy Wiebe the most however, as she put away her Huskie jersey one final time.

“(Thomaidis) had said it best that these moments are so fleeting,” Murphy Wiebe said. “The relationships that we’ve built are the things that are going to last forever.”

Read more:

• Huskies capture Canada West men’s hockey title for second straight year
• Kipling’s Gilbert Dash representing Canada at Paralympics for first time
• Gold, silver, bronze take Canada’s Paralympic medal count to six