Recapping Day One of the Women's U SPORTS Basketball Championships hosted at the University of British Columbia
- Jordan Frew
- Mar 14
- 5 min read
Basketball teams from all across Canada are gathering at the University of British Columbia (UBC) for the Men and Women’s for Final 8 tournament. This tournament started March 13, 2025 and the gold medal game will be played on March 16, 2025.
March 13 sees all eight teams in the men and women’s category playing in the quarter-finals. For the women, their consolation semi-finals take place on the 14, and on the 15, the championship semi-finals are played along with the consolation final. On the 16, both men and women will play their bronze and gold medal games and by the end of the day, each will have crowned a champion
Quarter Final #1
An hour after the men’s started their tournament, #7 Laval Red and Gold, and #2 Ottawa Gee-Gees started the women’s Final 8 tournament off.
The first quarter saw the Gee-Gees quickly pull ahead of the Laval Red and Gold, with the Gee-Gees at one point having an 8 point lead. However, that did not discourage the Red and Gold as by the end of the first quarter they had tied the game 17-17.
The second quarter saw a more even matchup, between the two, even trading the lead a couple times throughout. With 43 seconds left in the quarter, the two teams were tied 38-38, but with 28 seconds left, the Gee-Gees took the lead with a basket, effectively ending the quarter with the lead.
The Red and Gold took half-time to recharge their batteries and they came into the third quarter ready to go. They quickly took a one point lead over the Gee-Gees and built from there. Red and Gold totaled 17 points in the third compared to 9 For the Gee-Gees, taking the lead over With a score of 55-49.
With a six point deficit going into the fourth quarter, it was the Gee-Gees turn to play chase and they slowly, but surely did, tying the game 63-63 with 2:02 left. This score was still the same at the end of the fourth, leading these two teams to overtime (OT).
The Red and Gold put up a good fight, but by the end of a five minute OT, but thanks to a jump shot by the Gee-Gees, Emily Payne, the score became 68-65 in favour of the Gee-Gees, and they won. The final score was 71-67.
The Ottawa Gee-Gees have won and advance to the semi-finals where they will face the Carleton Ravens.
Quarter Final #2
The #6 Bishop’s Gaiters women’s team played right after their men’s team. They took on the #3 Carleton Ravens.
In the first quarter, the Ravens struck first on a freethrow by Noelle Kilbreath where she scored a potential 2/2 points. They took this 2-0 lead and quickly turned it into a 7-0 lead. The Gaiters started to catch-up, but before they could catch the Ravens, the Ravens started to build their lead again and maintained it for a final first quarter score of 16-8.
The Ravens were able to keep their momentum going into the second quarter, never trailing and further building their lead. By the end of the second quarter, the Ravens built their lead up from 8 to 14 with the final score at the end of the second quarter being 34-20.
Heading into the third quarter, the Gaiters had quite the score to overcome. But the Ravens came out strong and rather than shrinking the Ravens lead shrinking, it increased from 14 to 20. The Gaiters were now down 49-29 with a quarter to go.
The Gaiters started to make a dent at the Ravens lead, getting it down from 20 to 15, but the Ravens were quick to build it back up. The Ravens finished the game with 27 more points than the Gaiters for a final score of 71-44.
The Carleton Ravens have won and advance to the semi-finals where they will face the Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Quarter Final #3
Right off the opening tip-off, the Huskies opened the scoring. The teams exchanged points after that before the Huskies started to build a steady lead. By the end of the first quarter they had a 5 point lead with a score of 20-15.
Heading into the second quarter the Thunderbirds made quick work of closing the gap towards the Huskies. And before the crowd knew it the Thunderbirds had taken the lead. The lead went back and forth for a few points before the Thunderbirds started to take control. The frist-half ended with the Thunderbirds up 29-25.
The third quarter saw these two teams extremely close to each other, with neither team ever having more than a four-point lead from the other. The Huskies scored 13 points compared to the Thunderbirds 11, making the score 40-38 in favour of the Thunderbirds with one quarter to go.
Not even a minute into the fourth, the Huskies had tied the score creating a blank slate between the two teams. The Thunderbirds swiftly regained the lead and managed to hold it steady with around four-to-six more points than the Huskies. The Thunderbirds held strong and won the game with a score of 55-50.
The UBC Thunderbirds have won and advance to the semi-finals where they will face the Saskatchewan Huskies
Quarter Final #4
To wrap up the women’s day of quarter-finals basketball #8 Alberta Pandas and #1 Saskatchewan Huskies took to the court.
The Huskies came into the first quarter ready to play. 5:20 into the game, they were leading the Pandas 11-0. The Huskies lead wavered a touch before they came back stronger and finished the quarter with a 20-6 lead.
In the second quarter, the tides took a turn in favour of the Pandas. With some hard work, they managed to get within five points of the Huskies. Unfortunately for the Pandas, the Huskies managed to turn things back in their favour and got their lead back up by 13 points. At the end of the second quarter, the score was 41-28.
Both teams had strong moments in the third quarter. The Pandas managed to get closer to the Huskies, but the Huskies soon after managed to not only regain their original lead, but significantly extend it, by 19 points. Before the third quarter was over, the Pandas managed to get the Huskies lead back down to the original 13. At the end of the quarter
Entering the fourth quarter, the Pandas had to immediately start working to erase the deficit. Their hard work was evident as at one point they got within 5 points of the Huskies. The Huskies held the Pandas off with a final score of 67-58
The Saskatchewan Huskies have won and advance to the semi-finals where they will face the UBC Thunderbirds.
Looking Ahead to Tomorrow:
With day one of the Final 8 tournament wrapped, here’s what tomorrow has in store for women’s basketball.
The final line-up for March 14, 2025 Women’s Basketball:
Consolation Game: Saint Mary’s VS Alberta at 5:00pm PST
Consolation Game: Laval VS Bishop’s at 7:00pm PST
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