Huskies roll past Cascades, advance to CW semis

SASKATOON, Sask. – Led by another stout defensive performance and efficient offence, the No. 2-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies cruised to a 96-58 victory against the Fraser Valley Cascades in the Canada West Quarterfinals Saturday night (Feb. 14) on the Ron & Jane Graham Centre Court.

The Cascades, who entered the evening coming off an impressive 78-60 win over the MRU Cougars in the play-in round, quickly found themselves trailing and, despite a strong second half, ultimately could not keep up with the top-ranked team in the nation.

Following a slow start in the opening minutes, Saskatchewan quickly took control after finding the advantage in their transition game, opening with an 8-0 run. From there the Huskies scoring depth took centre stage as the team built a 51-22 halftime lead and never looked back.

"It's nice to have everyone involved and get into a playoff game," said Saskatchewan head coach Lisa Thomaidis, who secured her 60^th Canada West playoff victory. "We're a deep team and as we get further along we'll be shortening [the bench], but for tonight's it's good to have everyone out there."

The Huskies will now await the winner of the Calgary Dinos and Trinity Western Spartan's quarterfinal to determine their semifinal opponent, with the Dogs set to return to their home court next Saturday (Feb. 21).

Much of the Huskies' first half success at the offensive end came thanks to the undefeated Dogs finding their footing from beyond the arc, something that has not be a constant through the 2025-26 season. Maya Flindall, Gage Grassick, and Logan Reider all connected from deep as the team wen 6-for-12.

"We've been waiting for our three-point shooting to come back for a while," added Thomaidis. "I thought Gage [Grassick] kind of started us off and was hitting some threes like she was last year, which was fun to see. We're going to need that moving forward."

Saskatchewan also flexed their defensive prowess early on, holding Fraser Valley scoreless through five minutes and forcing the visitors into 14 first half turnovers while committing just five themselves.

Canada West's leading scorer, Julia Tuchscherer did all she could early on to keep her team in the fight, scoring nine of team-high 17 points prior to the break.

As Fraser Valley attempt to shut down the Dogs' perimeter shooting coming out of the break, the Huskies adjusted well and moved to lean on Ella Murphy Wiebe under the basket. Wiebe recorded eight points in the paint, which featured a pair of and-ones to pace the Dogs.

As Saskatchewan continued to plug away, the Cascades found some life offensively, shooting 50% from both the field and three-point line to score 19 points, their highest scoring quarter of the contest.

The fourth then saw veterans Maya Flindall and Andrea Dodig carry the Dogs to victory with 10 points collectively, with the pair complimented by 12 points from the bench.

Flindall would finish the game as the leading scorer with 22 points, followed by Grassick (14) —who added 6 rebounds, five assists and three steals—Murphy Wiebe (12), Dodig (11), and Reider (10).

Paced by Tuchscherer—who had a strong all-round game with six rebounds, four assists, and two blocks—Fania Taylor (11) and Bernie Leda (10) also hit the double-digit point mark for the Cascades who saw their season ended by Saskatchewan for the third consecutive season.

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