P.A.’s Gage Grassick took unusual path to Huskies basketball stardom

University of Saskatchewan Huskies point guard Gage Grassick is one of the best at her position in Canada.

The third-year Huskie out of Carlton Comprehensive High School in Prince Albert is averaging 13 points per game and shooting 27 per cent from three on the top-ranked women’s basketball team in the country.

Her success this season led her to being named a second-team All-Canadian at the U Sports women’s basketball awards in Edmonton on Wednesday.

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You might think someone who’s this good at basketball would’ve taken a traditional path to get here, but for Grassick — who grew up on a farm 30 minutes east of Prince Albert – her journey has been anything but traditional.

“Just at the farm, (the court) was just in the middle of the yard,” she explained. “Dribbling on grass, it’s kind of crazy. There’s dead spots all over so you never know when you’ll lose the ball or not.”

That’s right: Grassick learned her craft by practising on grass at her parents’ farm.

Because she was dribbling on grass so much, Grassick suggests it helped make her a better player when it comes to controlling the ball and being able to shoot the three.

“There’s lots of conditions to take into effect. On a windy day it was pretty hard to shoot the ball,” she said.

Grassick added it’s a welcome sight nowadays being able to practise in a quality gym like Merlis Belsher Place.

“Getting into a facility like Merlis, it was crazy (experiencing) the difference going from shooting at home to a gym where there’s no conditions like wind,” she laughed.

Grassick credits her older brother for getting her out practising on the grass court and his competitiveness as reasons why she’s been able to have such a successful basketball career.

“When I was pretty young, I didn’t want to be out there at all,” she said, before admitting she was actually more of a volleyball player growing up. “My brother was the one forcing me out there, but he’d be out there for hours. He taught me that resilience – just to keep shooting and to always work as hard as you can.”

Because of her brother’s will to be out on the court with Grassick, that led to many physical pickup games between the siblings.

“We often ended up in a bit of a fight,” she chuckled. “I can remember quite a few bloody noses at the end of a one-versus-one match. My mom kind of knew just to kind of let us hash it out.”

Grassick said the games between her and her brother were mostly even despite her brother having a couple years on her.

According to Grassick, her brother could’ve played post-secondary basketball, but he decided to go to school and focus on his career. He is now a mechanic.

Fresh off of winning the Canada West championship, Grassick is now looking to win a national championship with her home province Huskies.

Grassick knows their journey to a national championship won’t be an easy one. In order to take the top spot, they’ll have to win all three games.

“Heading off into nationals (you play) the top eight teams in the country. You’re never going to get a bad team, and everyone is playing for that one goal,” Grassick said.

The Huskies won their quarterfinal against Calgary 85-54 on Thursday and advanced to a semifinal on Saturday. They will take on Laval at 7 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

The gold- and bronze-medal games are set for Sunday evening.