Last October, as she packed her rugby bags pre-flight for what was to be an extended overseas professional residency in the birthplace of her sport, Sophie de Goede made sure to leave a little room for the other half of her athletic alter-ego.“I brought my basketball shoes over, hoping that I would be able to […]
University Women’s Basketball
UBC’s Gabrielle Laguerta: Despite her battle scars and lost senior season, ‘Birds senior celebrates the silver lining of basketball’s shared experience
VANCOUVER —As Gabrielle Laguerta has gone about playing her role in the strangest year of our lives, UBC’s fifth-year senior guard has so often felt like an actor rehearsing her lines for a Broadway production she knows will never see the light of opening night.“I’ll come off a good practice where I’ve tried out this […]
Delivering a fine kettle of fish! Simon Fraser’s women’s basketball hits the dock of Steveston Harbour to support ‘Fishermen Helping Kids with Cancer’ cause!
BURNABY — They were hoping to hit nothing but net when they took to their cozy West Gym court nestled high atop Burnaby Mountain this season.Yet while the global pandemic put a quick end to those aspirations for the Simon Fraser women’s basketball team, they’ve still found ways to cast their net far and wide.This […]
VL Podcast 11.25.20: Canadian coaching great Allison McNeill reflects on a hoops life with stops at Oregon, Semiahmoo, Laurentian, SFU and more!
This week, the Varsity Letters podcast welcomes a giant in Canadian basketball circles. Allison McNeill has touched the stars at every level at which she has played or coached, and today we cover some of the facets of her basketball life that don’t get as much attention! But first, we will talk with Coach […]
A SUNDAY READ: Banking their Euros! Postmarked ‘Abby, BC’, UFV’s teen duo of Tuchscherer & Gobeil find their bounce with overseas pro careers
ABBOTSFORD — It was a basketball migration along a flight path neither could have ever anticipated just a handful of months ago.Yet this past Thursday, as both U SPORTS and its conference affiliate, Canada West, announced the official cancellation of the remainder of the 2020-21 university sports season (including basketball) due to the ongoing virulence […]
Trinity Western women’s basketball: Veteran coach Cheryl Jean-Paul keeps her youthful Spartans on a proven path to Canada West success
LANGLEY — There is a virtual mountain of statistical evidence to illustrate just how unforgiving a season the young Trinity Western women’s basketball team endured in 2019-20.The good part for the Spartans is that head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul has been through this tough, early part of the journey before with her program, and its precisely […]
A Sunday Read: How UFV Cascades’ women’s basketball strengthened its bond on a virtual climb to the top of Mt. Everest!
ABBOTSFORD — Al Tuchscherer was watching the nightly news recently when a story came across the screen which immediately sparked his imagination.“They had a human interest story about this gentleman who I guess always wanted to climb Mt. Everest,” began the head coach of the Fraser Valley Cascades women’s basketball team. “And he decided to take […]
“…Hey, she just pulled a Dirk!” UFV’s fab frosh Tuchscherer making like a U Sports’ Nowitzki
(Due to technical difficulties encountered here at VarsityLetters.ca over the past two weeks, several stories, including this one, had not been posted here on our main site, which is now back to being fully operational as of Feb. 17, 2020. We thank you for your patience and your continued loyalty to B.C.’s most trusted source for […]
Tayler Drynan: Simon Fraser’s senior point guard never missed a moment along the road to her Clan home finale
(Due to technical difficulties encountered here at VarsityLetters.ca over the past two weeks, several stories, including this one, had not been posted here on our main site, which is now back to being fully operational as of Feb. 17, 2020. We thank you for your patience and your continued loyalty to B.C.’s most trusted source for […]
UBC’s Jessica Hanson: Appreciating the present of presence has allowed ‘Birds senior guard to see 20/20 in 2020
(Due to technical difficulties encountered here at VarsityLetters.ca over the past two weeks, several stories, including this one, had not been posted here on our main site, which is now back to being fully operational as of Feb. 17, 2020. We thank you for your patience and your continued loyalty to B.C.’s most trusted source for […]