SFU head coach Steve Hanson has coached his Red Leafs to a 3-3 stretch following Thursday's 77-74 overtime win over the Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

SFU men’s basketball: Red Leafs battle through fourth straight one-possession contest, go to OT to top Fairbanks 77-74!

By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caHeavy mettle.That’s the best way to describe the Simon Fraser Red Leafs men’s basketball team over its past six games.On Thursday night in Fairbanks, Alaska, a Red Leafs’ team which had opened the GNAC season with an 0-4 record won for the third time in their last six outings, this time going to […]

Simon Fraser's Myrlaine Shelvey on her way to scoring two of her game-high 24 points during GNAC clash against Western Oregon January 30, 2025 at the West Gym. (Photo by Gordon Kalisch/FastTrackSportsPhotographyy 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

She’s the Red Leaf rising! Myrlaine Shelvey hits six triples and Simon Fraser flirts with GNAC’s free throw record in much-needed 83-68 win over Western Oregon’s Wolves!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Myrlaine Shelvey knows the one thing her basketball team needs most is secondary scoring.On Thursday, as Simon Fraser continued a three-game home stand against a visiting Western Oregon Wolves team tied with them at 3-6, both locked just outside of playoff contention in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings, the redshirt sophomore […]

SFU guard Irish Coquia handled being thrown in the defensive spotlight Thursday in Montana and helped lead his team to its first GNAC win of 2024-25. (Photo by special request for VarsityLetters.ca. All images remain property of Varsity Letters 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

SFU men’s basketball: Offence hard to guard, defence locks down MSU-B’s threes as Howard, Coquia and Red Leafs roll to big win against host Jackets in season’s first GNAC win!

(By HOWARD TSUMURA, varsityletters.ca)Luke Howard’s final basket of the night on Thursday did a lot to prove the notion that the Simon Fraser Red Leafs’ two-game home sweep last week at the hands of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s two Alaska schools didn’t come in vain.In fact when Howard set a high screen for teammate […]

Simon Fraser forward Luke Howard has stood tall for the Red Leafs in his first season atop Burnaby Mountain. (Photo by special request for VarsityLetters.ca. All images remain property of Varsity Letters 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Baseball

A Red Leaf’s rising! For Abby’s Luke Howard, seven seasons on the U.S. hoops road leads to a breakthrough homecoming at Simon Fraser as GNAC home slate opens Thursday!

By Howard TsumuraBURNABY — Luke Howard’s climb to reach the summit of his college basketball career has been interminably long, at times undoubtedly lonely and beset with enough re-starts to wobble even the most unflappable of hardcourt warriors.Yet at 7 p.m. on Thursday — seven years, four schools, a global pandemic and a torn ACL […]

Simon Fraser's Sophia Wisotzki splits the Tampa post defence during action between the host Red Leafs and visiting, No. 4-ranked Spartans Nov 3, 2024 at CCA Div. 1 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo exclusive property of Varsity Letters via VL Sports Services 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

SFU women’s basketball notebook: The rise of senior Sophia Wisotzki to NCAA D-2’s No. 2 scorer, plus West Region tidbits and all there is to love about the Red Leafs’ press!

BURNABY — Simon Fraser’s Sophia Wisotzki is more used to making the news every time she brings her dynamic two-way game to the court this season for the Red Leafs’ basketball team.On Wednesday night, however, she had the news delivered to her.“Oh, I didn’t know that,” the 6-foot senior guard and kinesiology major admitted when […]

SFU guard Irish Coquia has made a smooth transition from high school at East Vancouver's St. Patrick's Regional, to the NCAA Div. 2 ranks with the Red Leafs. (Photo by special request for VarsityLetters.ca. All images remain property of Varsity Letters 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Baseball

Simon Fraser’s Irish Coquia: As backcourt injuries mount, former St. Pat’s star comes of age in NCAA behind career-high 34 points, 10 assists in Red Leafs’ 2-OT win!

BURNABY — Soloist and conductor.The wheel of attrition has ground down especially hard on the Simon Fraser men’s basketball team over the first month of its 2024-25 season.And as its ranks have thinned at the guard spots, the Red Leafs’ urgency to get performance from one of its youngest players has grown exponentially over the […]

Quebec native Sophie Bergeron has brought a defensive presence to Simon Fraser. Here, Bergeron does what she does best during Sunday action between the host Red Leafs and visiting, No. 4-ranked Tampa Spartans on Nov 3, 2024 at CCA Div. 1 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo exclusive property of Varsity Letters via VarsityLetters.ca Images 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Press to play! Simon Fraser Red Leafs women’s hoops debuts a full-court defensive scheme to impressive results at NCAA Div. 2 Canadian Tip-Off Classic!

VANCOUVER —  They may be just three games into a new season, yet Simon Fraser head coach Bruce Langford does not hesitate when asked to describe the 2024-25 edition of Red Leafs women’s basketball team.“I think we play a more exciting style than we have played for many years,” Langford began this past Sunday after […]

Simon Fraser head women's basketball coach Bruce Langford reached the 500-win milestone on Saturday with a win over Western Washington. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Bruce Langford: Simon Fraser women’s head basketball coach reaches 500-win milestone with Seniors’ Night win over WWU! “Who would have thought a 51-year-old high school coach could get 500 wins? Not me!”

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — It was about two years ago that Bruce Langford decided to make a donation.Just ahead of his 70th birthday, Simon Fraser’s longtime women’s basketball coach decided to pay forward his own hoops education by packing up his 100 or so coaching books and manuals so that the impressionable minds of the future […]

Simon Fraser's David Penney loves the developing chemistry he's seeing in the Red Leafs. (Photo by by Wilson Wong protected image 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Simon Fraser men’s basketball: With three wins in past four GNAC conference games, veteran guard Penney gives nod to Red Leafs’ developing chemistry as season’s toughest road swing charters north to Alaska!

BURNABY — David Penney’s senior season with the Simon Fraser Red Leafs has included its share of tough times.Yet as his final Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season winds its way down to its final five games, their is no greater authority to speak to the ever-evolving state of suddenly-percolating Red Leafs.“Last year, we were […]

SFU Red Leafs' guard Aram Dulai (right) with former teammate Sophie Klassen during the 2022-23 season. (Photo by Gordon Kalisch property of FastTrackSportsPhotography and SFU athletics 2024. All Rights Reserved)
SFU Red Leafs' guard Arman Dulai is the first women's basketball player in SFU's NCAA era to earn a spot in the team's starting line-up as a walk-on player. (Photo by Gordon Kalisch property of FastTrackSportsPhotography and SFU athletics 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

SFU women’s basketball: Arman Dulai puts her stamp on Red Leafs’ red-letter day as first walk-on starter in team’s NCAA era!

BURNABY — When it comes to beating the odds during this current decade-plus NCAA era of Simon Fraser women’s basketball, Arman Dulai may well have everyone beat.When the 5-foot-9 junior guard from Surrey found out that she was going to be announced in the starting line-up for this past Saturday’s home game against Seattle Pacific, […]