For a few minutes in the third quarter, the game finally broke away from Saskatchewan.
UNB, relentless on the glass and courageous enough to drag the Huskies out of their comfort zone, erased a 15-point deficit and briefly climbed in front Sunday evening.
The tournament’s most dominant team had stopped scoring, the lead was gone, and the national championship was suddenly being played on the Reds’ terms.
That was the moment Saskatchewan showed why this season will be remembered as more than a title run for a championship level team.
The Huskies answered a punch they had spent nearly five months avoiding, then closed like a champion anyway. Behind Gage Grassick’s all-around brilliance, Logan Reider’s shooting burst off the bench, Maya Flindall’s timely scoring and Ella Murphy Wiebe’s work around the rim, Saskatchewan beat the Reds 77-68 to capture a second straight U SPORTS women’s basketball championship.
The victory completes one of the most dominant seasons in recent U SPORTS history. Saskatchewan finished 30-1 overall, rolled through Canada West with a perfect 20-0 conference record and secured back-to-back national championships after also winning the title in 2025.
For head coach Lisa Thomaidis — the longtime architect of the program who was named U SPORTS coach of the year earlier this week — the championship adds another chapter to a tenure that has redefined modern Canadian university basketball excellence.
The title is the fourth of Thomaidis’ career, adding to championships in 2016, 2020 and 2025 and further cementing her place among the most successful coaches in U SPORTS women’s basketball history.
Saskatchewan has built a program capable of overwhelming opponents with depth, defensive pressure and offensive balance, but also one capable of surviving the kind of late-game tension.
And for much of Sunday night in Québec City, UNB made sure that tension was thick.
How it happened
The Huskies jumped out early behind their versatile backcourt. Grassick dictated the pace of the opening quarter with 10 points and defensive pressure that helped Saskatchewan build a 25-13 lead after one.
Logan Reider added a spark off the bench in the second quarter, scoring in transition and from the perimeter to help stretch the advantage to 42-27 late in the half.
By halftime, Saskatchewan held a 44-32 lead and appeared to be moving toward another in a long line of wins this season.
But the Reds, who are hosting Final 8 next season, would not fade quietly.
UNB opened the third quarter with renewed energy, attacking the paint and controlling the offensive glass. Maheva Ngassam scored twice early, Kylee Speedy got to the line and then knocked down a three-pointer, and all of a sudden, the deficit was three.
Alyssa Jenkins pushed UNB briefly in front midway through the quarter, and when Katie Butts put in a layup the Reds had clawed their way to a 49-48 lead — their first of the game — and the gold medal game suddenly felt wide open.
Butts, the U SPORTS second-team all-Canadian, neared a double-double with 13 points and 8 boards.
Ella Murphy Wiebe answered calmly with a pair of paint finishes to restore order late in the third quarter, and the Huskies regained the lead heading into the final frame.
Grassick drilled a three-pointer early in the fourth to push the advantage back to five, and Flindall followed with a three of her own to stretch the margin to six.
From there, Saskatchewan leaned on their champion mentality.
Murphy Wiebe scored twice in the paint to extend the lead, Reider buried another three-pointer midway through the quarter, and Tea DeMong turned a late defensive steal into a transition layup that pushed the Huskies ahead by eight with just over two minutes remaining.
UNB continued to press, cutting the deficit to five in the final minutes, but Saskatchewan closed the game at the free-throw line to secure the 77-68 victory.
Reider led the Huskies with 19 points and four three pointers, while Speedy paced the Reds with 16 points and two assists.
A tournament résumé among the greats
Grassick finished the night once again at the centre of Saskatchewan’s performance — putting up a stat line of 16-7-5, along with two steals.
But the Prince Albert, Sk. native's contributions extend beyond a single championship game.
Across multiple national tournaments, Grassick has built one of the most productive Final 8 careers in U SPORTS history.
With Sunday’s performance, the fifth-year guard now sits sixth all-time in career national tournament scoring with 187 points, sixth in field goals made with 65, tied for fourth in three-pointers with 26 and third all-time in steals with 39. Her 411 career minutes also place her among the most heavily used players in tournament history.
Those numbers place Grassick alongside some of the defining figures in U SPORTS women’s basketball history — players like Windsor’s Jessica Clemencon and Miah-Marie Langlois, Regina’s Joanna Zalesiak and Saskatchewan legends Summer Masikewich and Sabine Dukate.
If this championship confirmed Saskatchewan’s place as one of the top teams in the country, it also cemented Grassick’s legacy within it.
For UNB, the loss ends a remarkable season that still stands as one of the strongest in program history. The Reds finished with 27 wins, an AUS championship, and a run to the national final, powered by Butts’ all-star level scoring and a deep rotation that allowed them to challenge the defending champions deep into the second half.
Even in defeat, the Reds showed why they belonged on this stage, and will hope to return to the finals again next season.
But on this night — and throughout much of the season — Saskatchewan remained the standard.
Two national championships in two years. Thirty wins in thirty-one games. And another March defined by the calm, balanced basketball that has become the Huskies’ signature.