Ella Murphy Wiebe had 16 points and eight rebounds as the Huskies advanced to the national semifinals with a 71-55 win over the UBC Thunderbirds. (Image Credit: Connor Jay)

By Ryan Flaherty

Depth on display

Huskies advance to national semi with win over Thunderbirds

Mar 5, 2026 | 8:47 PM

The Huskies women’s basketball team made the most of its superior depth and tenacious defence in a wire-to-wire 71-55 quarterfinal win over the UBC Thunderbirds at the U SPORTS Final 8 on Thursday night in Quebec City.

Three-time All-Canadian Gage Grassick led the Huskies with 25 points and Ella Murphy Wiebe added 16 points and eight rebounds while the Dogs shut down T-birds star Olivia Weekes for most of the night as USask overcame some poor shooting from the foul line and beyond the arc to pull away from UBC in the second half.

“We would have had a bigger lead if we’d have been able to make our free throws. Just not shooting well from the line and even from three. But thankfully our defence held us in it and that’s what the difference was,” head coach Lisa Thomaidis said.

The Huskies jumped out to an early 9-2 lead capped by a jumper from Maya Flindall, who had a team-high six points in the opening quarter. The Thunderbirds replied with five straight points to trim the gap to two but it would be the last time all night that they would get within one possession as the Dogs closed the frame on a 10-4 run to take a 19-11 lead after ten minutes of play.

The second quarter belonged to Grassick, who scored 11 of the Huskies’ 15 points in the period including a banked three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to help USask maintain its eight-point cushion at the break. The T-birds were able to keep pace thanks in large part to the efforts of Sara Toneguzzi, who tallied eight of her team-high 21 points in the second.

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After Flindall connected from deep to open the third quarter, Toneguzzi answered with back-to-back threes to bring UBC within five. But the Dogs responded with a 7-2 run including five points from Murphy Wiebe to push the lead to double digits. The fifth-year forward would score ten points in the period as the Huskies went to work in the paint with Weekes, one of the nation’s top rebounders, sitting on the bench in foul trouble.

With an 11-point lead heading to the fourth, the Huskies slowly but surely choked off any UBC comeback hopes down the stretch, extending the advantage to 19 midway through the quarter on back-to-back buckets by Andrea Dodig, who finished the night one rebound shy of a double double with 11 points and nine boards.

“I thought we were really tough (on the glass) even though we were outsized. Andi was playing against someone a few inches taller and longer than her and she did a great job. They got a few second chance points but we had 15, they had 12, and I just think that speaks to our toughness,” Thomaidis said.

It was elementary after that as the Huskies emptied their bench with two minutes remaining, closing the door on their conference rivals and punching their ticket to the semifinals.

Saskatchewan shot 42.4 per cent from the field despite going just 5-for-21 from beyond the arc, while holding UBC below 34 per cent shooting. Neither team had a good night from the free throw line, with the Dogs going 10-for-21 and the T-birds just 5-for-14. But the difference was in the paint, where the Huskies outscored the bigger Thunderbirds 40-18.

The Huskies now wait to find out who they will face in the semis, with the #1 seed TMU Bold taking on the host and #8 seed Laval Rouge et Or in Thursday’s last quarterfinal. The semifinal contest will tip off at 5 p.m. ET (4 p.m. Sask) on Saturday.

“If we can defend like that and have a better shooting night then we’ll give ourselves a chance, no matter who we’re playing against,” Thomaidis said.