Before she ever wore an Algoma Thunderbirds jersey, Riya Donnelly was already used to fighting uphill battles. From pushing herself against older players in Winnipeg gyms to navigating a pandemic-era recruiting process, the guard has built her game — and her confidence — by seeking out challenges some players might avoid.
Top Tier Manitoba Basketball
Oak Park High junior varsity. That's where Riya Donnelly started her club basketball journey in Grade 9. After getting experience, Riya made the jump from junior varsity to the varsity team playing one to two years up through her Grade 10 and Grade 11 year.
Once she finished her Grade 11 year, she transferred to Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg for Grade 12 and avenged what COVID cut short two years prior — Donnelly won a city championship with her new school in the top division.
Realizing the pathway to the next level
"In Grade 9, I was fortunate enough to train with some of the university players at [University of Manitoba]... we would do practices there," said Donnelly.
"After playing with them it became a real tangible goal that I could see myself pursuing."
Experience against the next level helped Donnelly realize she could play at that level, and during the COVID pandemic, her work ethic took over that realization.
She put in a lot of work with her coaches in Manitoba and she was driven to a point where she felt she could play U SPORTS.
From Manitoba to Algoma
The recruiting experience for Donnelly was slightly different than it normally is for U SPORTS athletes due to COVID and the travel restrictions.
For Donnelly, what would usually be recruiting visits turned to online calls and finding out about schools was mostly done through conversation and research over first hand experience.
Her high academics opened her options to many different schools, but her connections in basketball brought her to the Thunderbirds.
Carrera Lamoureux, an alumni of Algoma and the women's basketball program, is a mentor and coach of Donnelly.
Wyatt Anders, another alumni of the Algoma program was another resource Donnelly had.
Carrera played from 2012-2017 and Wyatt 2012-2016, both under former Algoma head coach Ryan Vetrie, and when coach Vetrie scouted Donnelly, it took just a couple of weeks of conversation for Riya to be a new Algoma Thunderbirds player.
A jarring transition
Going from playing in Manitoba where at the time she was one of the bigger guards, to playing against the size in the OUA was a jarring experience for the 5'8" Donnelly.
Going up against bigger size and more physicality took a toll on Riya, and she suffered a concussion in her rookie year where she played 17 games at just under 12 minutes per night.
"That was a wake up call that man I need to get my training to a really high level to even compete and keep up in this division."
Off-court programming, weight lifting, sprint training. Going into her second year of U SPORTS basketball, Riya had to adjust the way she approached training to better handle the change in not only competition but her role on the team.
In high school, Riya was more of a primary scorer but as she adapted to the Algoma program and the OUA demands, she realized she needed to become more of a all-around player.
That development, alongside her work ethic she had displayed, was helped by who she was around.
"A really big privilege I have here in Winnipeg is I'm surrounded by University players," said Donnelly.
"I actively sought out and trained with other, even though they played in Canada West, University players. You don't really get to do that much in high school but once you get to the U SPORTS level you get a little bit more opportunity to connect and train with people who've played for a couple years already."
Training with those U SPORTS players and getting a reality of what playing in U SPORTS is like was frustrating for Donnelly at the time.
Understanding what she was being told but struggling to implement it, there was a lot of failing and coming back to try again, a battle she was willing to take on. A battle she overcame.
Going through the process of learning what is expected and what play is like tested Riya but looking back at what it gave her she's thankful she did it and learned those lessons.
"Between my first, second, even my last year I could tell training with people who played a couple years, even those who stopped playing but continued to train people, it was a big help to my game."
Reliable
Algoma had a lot of new players come in for the 2024-25 season, and because of that Riya took on a leadership role on the team for her third season, which allowed her to build relationships and grow her responsibility with the Thunderbirds.
Donnelly says her role with the Thunderbirds has shifted in those years. She’s built strong relationships with coaches Robbie Green and Katie Hamilton, who have come to count on her in the team’s day-to-day leadership. It’s a responsibility she admits she wouldn’t have been ready for in her first two seasons, but by her third year she had grown into someone her teammates and coaches could rely on.
"Being someone reliable for people on my team, my coaches, even people like Ryan [Vetrie], I'll still help out," describes Donnelly.
Learning Together
Now as the 2025 season starts to roll around, Riya says the team is learning and growing together. With a new group of recruits and transfers highlighted by Neela Chanderdat coming over from Lakehead University, not only building chemistry but also reiterating the importance of training has been the message from Riya and the other veterans on the team.
"That's what's going to translate onto the court, chemistry, and we're holding people accountable. We're making sure people are getting their work done, doing their workouts, all the stuff that teams do. Training is not just the eight months at school, it's 12 months of the year so we've been on our teammates to do that."
Optimistic of the team's outlook for 2025-26, Riya is looking forward to getting on the court, and personally, continuing to be the starter she became during the second half of last season.