By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersVANCOUVER — The deeper they get into their season, it seems, the muddier, grittier and more single-minded of purpose these UBC Thunderbirds seem to become.On Friday at War Memorial Gymnasium, UBC turned in its second straight pure-guts fourth quarter of their post-season, and as in last Sunday’s 75-69 win over the Alberta […]
University Women’s Basketball
Sophie Bergeron: In the wake of a career-defining 30-point, 10-steal performance, Simon Fraser’s ‘Poumon’ embraces the cerebral nature of the classroom and the West Gym!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersBURNABY — Sophie Bergeron is fun to watch but almost impossible to describe.And really, what could be better?She arrived last season to the Simon Fraser Red Leafs as an athletic prodigy, yet proceeded to demonstrate the need for the kind of seasoning which was as much about the cerebral part of the […]
The story of UBC’s Cerys Merton: How a penchant for defence, inspired by a late high school teammate, has helped ‘Birds guard become her program’s all-time steals-per-game leader!
By Howard TsumuraVANCOUVER — Thumb through the pages of Cerys Merton’s own basketball dictionary, and you’ll discover that the definition of the term ‘skill set’ includes at least one discipline not commonly clustered with the likes of the game’s time-honoured standards of shooting, passing and dribbling.“I think the biggest thing is just constantly bringing that […]
Q-&-A with Tayla Jackson: As she finishes her first round of chemotherapy, former Brookswood, SFU hoops star, 28, speaks to her battle, and to the truth of hardcourt lessons worth leaning on!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caLANGLEY — If you’re a member of B.C.’s tight-knit basketball community, you may well already have heard the gist of her story.Two weeks ago, former Brookswood Secondary and Simon Fraser hoops standout Tayla Jackson wasn’t feeling herself.At the time, with the start of hoops season just around the corner, she was in the […]
With poise and big-game flair, Victoria’s 18-year-old point guard Avery Geddes delivers in Vikes’ upset win over No. 4 UBC! Former SMUS star, BC 2-A MVP plays above her U SPORTS rookie status!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caVANCOUVER — When you perform within basketball’s most sacred space, you earn the most special moniker of having played like you were ‘unconscious’.On its own, hitting 6-of-8 three-pointers in a game doesn’t necessarily qualify as such, yet it certainly makes a case for itself when so early in your university career, just weeks […]
SFU Women’s Hoops: As its new team identity takes root and Red Leafs prep for California weekend, junior guard Rachel Loukes confident ‘blue collar’ mindset is something team can lean on!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caLANGLEY — On the eve of her team’s participation in the season-opening Canadian Tip-Off Classic earlier this month, Rachel Loukes thought long and hard about how her Simon Fraser Red Leafs were being labelled as a working-class basketball team.And when the three-day event concluded on Nov. 2 at the Langley Events Centre following […]
Adversity has prepared UBC’s fifth-year senior guard Olivia Weekes for the ‘gravity’ of any situation! U SPORTS’ No. 4-ranked ‘Birds renew cross-water rivalry Friday vs. Victoria Vikes!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caVANCOUVER — Olivia Weekes can do so many different things on the basketball court so well, perhaps it’s no surprise that in recorded UBC Thunderbirds’ program history, she sits in the Top 15 of 10 different major statistical categories.And along the way what has been most clear are the ways in which the […]
AS SFU women’s hoops tips off Friday at LEC heavy grad tolls create early questions on offence! Newly-focussed Red Leafs look to build cornerstone identity with hustle stats by the bushel!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caBURNABY — The last time the women’s basketball team at the top of Burnaby Mountain went through this kind of change, they were first celebrating a national championship, then preparing to make the move from what is now known as U SPORTS to the ranks of the NCAA.All of that took place in […]
Trinity Western women’s hoops: With Victoria and UBC providing a challenging opening-weekend slate, Spartans open Canada West play ready to make every lesson count!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caLANGLEY — The Trinity Western Spartans did not qualify for last season’s U SPORTS women’s national championship tournament held across town at UBC.Yet none of that means the Spartans went into this past off-season unaware of what it’s like to play the country’s best with both team’s seasons on the line.“We played Saskatchewan […]
A Sunday Read: Meet Dave Taylor! With 2025-26 season set for Friday tip, UBC’s new women’s basketball coach finds connection through player empowerment & paying homage to Thunderbirds hoops history!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caVANCOUVER — If you believe in the unseen forces of the basketball universe, then maybe you can better understand the kind of pressure the game’s mythical matchmakers were under this past summer when it came time to finding the next head coach of the UBC Thunderbirds women’s basketball team.Their task?Could they pair what […]