Prince Albert native and Huskie guard Gage Grassick - middle left, helped Canada win gold at the 2025 Junior Pan Am Games (submitted/Gage Grassick)
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Gage Grassick wins gold with Team Canada at 2025 Junior Pan Am Games

Aug 27, 2025 | 4:03 PM

Gage Grassick continued to add hardware to her already incredible basketball career last weekend.

Having done so much at the U Sports level already, Grassick upped the ante and headed outside the country to play on the international stage.

Competing with Team Canada at the Junior Pan Am Games in Paraguay, the Prince Albert native helped lead the team to a gold medal.

“I was just so unbelievably grateful for the opportunity to play. I’ve been so fortunate to wear Huskies across my chest for the past four years, and I can’t name a better experience, but when you get to have that Maple Leaf and Canada across your chest, it means something a little bit different and a little bit more. Along with the three other female athletes that I got to play with, it was just such a great experience,” she told HuskieFAN.

Words can’t even describe winning gold. We were such an incredible group of athletes who went and competed, and our coach was absolutely exceptional. To get four players together who really have never played together, with very little three-on-three experience, and shape them into a gold medal team against countries that have played lots of three-on-three, it’s just incredibly special.”

Playing in Paraguay was a new experience for Grassick, along with the Canadian National experience, which was added to playing a game unfamiliar to her in 3×3.

This led the 2025 U Sports Female Athlete of the Year and 2025 U Sports Women’s Basketball National Champion to rely on her competitive mentality to fuel the successes and figure out the rest on the fly.

“It’s definitely a totally different game, but there are also a lot of similarities. At the end of the day, though, you just want to get the ball in the basket. Playing in South America was also totally different because I don’t think any of us had ever been there before, so we had to get used to the different variables pretty quickly. What was so special about our team was our calibre and IQ, and our ability to get to know one another so well, despite being together for under a week,” Grassick added.

“When you play internationally, you’re also playing each country’s best, so it was a bit of a different mentality. Thankfully, U Sports is really competitive, and that’s what makes it so special, because it didn’t feel like a huge leap… I never thought I’d be able to get that feeling of winning a championship again, like my experience with the U of S this year, so to do that for a second time this year, this time with Team Canada, I’m just so fortunate.”

As if the fourth-year superstar needed more practice, ahead of her fifth and final year in Saskatoon.

Now, Grassick will return to the Green and White colour scheme, after her time in Red and White, with more hardware, experience, and knowledge.

“‘I’ve had such a great experience with Canada basketball, and I’m really excited to get back training with the Huskies, who have been my home for the last five years. If anything, I’m just ready to pass all my knowledge to players on my team and let them know that they can do this one day as well, and they can have the same experiences,” the 22-year-old concluded.

“Before I left with Team Canada, coach (Lisa) Thomaidis just told me to go have fun and compete like I have been as a Huskie. Just because my jersey was changing doesn’t mean I should change the way I play, and that’s something I really took to heart. Now coming back here for the fall, I’ll be doing the same thing. She has always been an inspiration to me.”

Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8

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