As Dani Langford, the Golden State Warriors' newly hired Manager of Player Rehabilitation gets a feel for new surroundings, she's never far from her roots as the point guard, playing for her dad Bruce on Simon Fraser University's 2005 national championship team. (Photos courtesy SFU athletics and Golden State Warriors 2021. All Rights Reserved. Photo graphic created by Gabriel Lynn)
Feature University Women's Basketball

A SUNDAY READ: Dani Langford’s passion for the poetry of motion: How SFU’s national championship MVP point guard found her way to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors!

Describing the intricacies of the human body in motion is a language unto itself.And for Danielle Langford, a young girl chasing her basketball dreams in the early-1990s, unlocking the true meaning of all that jargon was a constant source of fascination, something she herself realized every time the bumps and bruises the journey led her […]

Simon Fraser women's head basketball coach Bruce Langford has already seen the impact of his program's recently-launched IMPACT Mentorship Program, one which has involved past and current players like (left to right) Laura van den Boogaard, Georgia Swant and Brittany Fraser. (Photo graphic by Gabriel Lynn property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

A Sunday Read: SFU women’s basketball celebrates the power of connection, uniting past and present through its IMPACT mentorship program!

BURNABY — There are many variations of the parable which informs us that in learning we teach, and that in teaching we learn.Boil those words down to their essence, however, and what remains is the singular feeling of a journey coming full circle.Laura Kalenuik, née van den Boogaard, like so many other former student-athletes, has […]

Simon Fraser's Jessica Jones (left) joins her teammates Saturday in Steveston to help deliver fresh herring to waiting customers as part of the Fishermen Helping Kids With Cancer fundraiser. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

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 […]

Simon Fraser's Tayler Drynan has never missed a game over the course of her entire four-year career with the Clan. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

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 […]

Simon Fraser's junior guard Jessica Jones (left) hits the deck to battle for a loose ball in this past Saturday's home loss to Alaska Anchorage at the West Gym. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

With a new balance in her basketball core, gritty Simon Fraser Clan guard Jessica Jones elevates her game atop Burnaby Mountain

BURNABY — Jessica Jones always believed she had what it took to become the kind of player and leader positioned at the very core of the Simon Fraser women’s basketball team.

Playing it tough in the paint was the key Thursday for the Simon Fraser Clan, and sophomore Sophie Klassen was one of the leading lights in that regard as her team topped visiting Seattle Pacific at the West Gym. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Even without its magical three-ball, Simon Fraser women sit at 4-1! Clan turn rebound-hungry in impressive win over Seattle Pacific Falcons

BURNABY — The only thing certain about 2019-20 Simon Fraser Clan women’s basketball team at the quarter-pole of their league schedule is that they sit third in the 11-team Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with a 4-1 record.That’s first and foremost, and in the minds of Clan fans, more than soothing enough despite the fact […]

Simon Fraser's Ozi Nwabuko (centre) went 6-for-6 from the field Friday in the Clan's season-opening loss to the Drury Panthers of Missouri, the No. 1-ranked team in all of NCAA Div. 2 women's hoops. (File photo by Brad McLeod property of SFU Athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

SFU hoops: Clan lead with their Hart, but even Claudia Hart’s first career double-double not enough against NCAA D2’s No. 1 Drury Panthers

The Simon Fraser Clan said they wanted to start their 2019-20 women’s basketball season against the best competition they could find.On Friday, they quite literally got just that.Junior forward Claudia Hart put forth her first career double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, however the Clan had a hard time early coming to grips with […]

A study in focus, Walnut Grove's Jessica Wisotzki has emerged as a blue-chip recruit of the Simon Fraser Clan.First, she makes her high school farewell Thursday in PoCo. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Simon Fraser’s Jessica Wisotzki: After a high school all-star game farewell, huge future awaits as WGSS star set to don Clan colours

BURNABY — Basketball has continued to evolve into more and more of a position-less sport, one in which the standard line between guards and forwards has increasingly blurred and ultimately lost much of its relevance when weighed against the virtues of the dynamic hybrid athlete.

Western Washington's Anna Schweke (44) has had a firm grip on Claudia Hart and the Simon Fraser Clan this season. The two teams meet in the oping round of GNAC playoffs Thursday in Bellingham. (Photo property of Western Washington University athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

GNAC playoffs ’19: SFU must take bad times with good, Clan face adversity head-on as they battle injuries, illness and WWU’s Vikings

BURNABY — Over a grand and somewhat surprising stretch from early-January through mid-February, the Simon Fraser Clan women’s basketball team were among the most consistent in all of NCAA Div. 2 basketball, winning 11 of 13 games.

Few if any players in the history of Simon Fraser women's basketball have over-exceeded their initial expectations quite like Clan senior Sophie Swant. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)