The team won their third-ever national championship earlier this year after defeating the Carleton Ravens.

This March, Huskie Women’s Basketball added their third national championship to their trophy cabinet after an 85-66 victory against the Carleton University Ravens.

A rematch of the 2024 final, the game displayed some of Canada’s biggest stars in women’s basketball. While initially a fast-paced, back-and-forth game, the Huskies would eventually settle into their rhythm and dominate the Ravens, ultimately winning by a comfortable 19 points and denying Carleton from winning their third consecutive national championship.

Fourth-year guard and 2025 USports Player of the Year Gage Grassick led the team with 35 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. This incredible individual performance combined with the Huskies’ depth propelled them to avenge their heartbreaking three-point loss to Carleton last year.

“Coming off that silver medal last year was really hard, but it was a really good experience for us, because after that we knew what it takes to be in the biggest game,” remarked third-year guard Maya Flindall. “Losing in that game and having the opportunity to do the exact same thing this year against the same team was motivating. We were literally preparing for it all year.”

The Dogs entered the national tournament as the number one seed, coming off a dominant 18-2 season which culminated in winning their 10th Canada West championship against the UBC Thunderbirds in front of a packed home gym. 

Their only two losses of the season came during their season-opening weekend, where they were swept on the road by the University of Calgary Dinos in a surprising upset. In spite of this adversity, the Huskies rallied to go on a 24-game winning streak, which will extend into their next season.

“I think it was a good wake-up call for us to be challenged like that in the first weekend,” Flindall said. “I think in the end, it’s nice to lose those games early in the season and figure out the level we need to be at and hold ourselves to a higher expectation.”

With only one graduating player, Andrea Dodig, the roster will be largely unchanged going into the 2025-2026 season. Filling her shoes will be no easy feat— the only current player who was also on the team for the 2020 National Championship victory, Dodig has been an incredible defensive asset for the Huskies throughout her tenure on the team. 

“I think in terms of our experience, depth and our offensive arsenal, I think that will be equally strong,” Explained Flindall. “Andi graduating will be a really big defensive gap that we’re gonna have to fill, but we placed such an emphasis on defence this year. In practice every day we were learning how to fill that role.”

Winning three national championships is no easy feat, and to make it even more impressive, all three of their national championships have come in the past nine years, with their first and second wins in 2016 and 2020. 

While the Huskies have built a legacy of being a powerhouse in Canadian women’s basketball in recent years, they weren’t always so dominant— this golden age of Huskie Basketball is the culmination of 25 years of work by head coach Lisa Thomaidis, who was named the Canada West coach of the year and broke the previous all-time Canada West Women’s Basketball win record of 344. 

“Coach really puts it into perspective. Our team is dominant right now, and winning, especially at the Canada West level, sometimes feels like an expectation. This is her third national championship in 10 years, but she’s been here for over 25 years. It was 16 or 17 years before getting the first one,” said Flindall. 

“She said to us, ‘Until you work for something for 17 years, you really don’t understand how hard it is to get there.’ I think it really puts into perspective the amount of work that she and the previous teams that came before us have done. They paved the way for us to be this successful and set the expectations so high for us.”

While these expectations can put a huge weight on the players, they are also a key ingredient in pushing any team to a national championship, according to third-year forward Elliot Lieffers, a transfer player who won the 2024 Canadian College Athletics Association championship with the Lakeland University Rustlers. She spoke of the similarities between the mindsets of both championship teams.

“With both teams, there was just such an emphasis on winning a championship. It was always in the cards to win nationals, and there was never any doubt of what we were here to do,” said Lieffers. “That’s the main similarity. You guys all believe in your ability to get there.”

Another thing that was the same for Lieffers? The pure joy when the final buzzer went off. 

“On my previous team, I was on the starting lineup for the final. I feel like you get such a sense of relief when you win, because when you’re playing, you put so much physical effort into it and you get that gratification when the final buzzer goes,” she explained. “But the interesting thing is that even though I didn’t play in the final this year, that relief and joy was exactly the same.”

Coming off a national championship, the Huskies will go into next year with even higher expectations than before. But with the winningest coach in Canada West, a talented roster led by the best player in the country, and a culture of winning, these expectations are not at all unfounded.