Ottawa, ON – There has not been a repeat national champion in U SPORTS Women’s Basketball since the dominant Windsor Lancers run of five consecutive titles between 2011 and 2015. The Carleton Ravens though will look to potentially change that as the 2024 Women’s Final 8 gets underway this afternoon at the Saville Centre on the campus of the University of Alberta

The 2023 defending champion Ravens enter the tournament as the second seed after a one loss season that saw them clinch the 2024 Critelli Cup as repeat OUA champions with a win over Queen’s. 

A formidable group awaits Carleton though, from the top seed Canada West champions the Saskatchewan Huskies to the Laval Rouge et Or who finished a perfect 16-0 season as RSEQ champions. 

Let’s break down a little of the eight teams that make up this year’s U SPORTS Women’s Final 8.

1. Saskatchewan Huskies (19-1 | Canada West Champion)

It was a near perfect U SPORTS season for the Saskatchewan Huskies. A 69-62 loss to Regina on Feb. 2 is the only blemish on a year that saw Saskatchewan go from hot to a raging inferno in the Canada West championship.

After their loss, the Huskies proceeded to win their next six games (including all three playoff games) by an average of 38.5 points. It culminated with a 84-50 trouncing of the UFV Cascades in the semifinal before crushing Alberat 73-42 in the Canada West championship.

The Huskies dominated by commitee this season with a three-headed monster of Carly Ahlstrom, Tea DeMong and Gage Grassick nearly tied at around 13 points per game each. After Ahlstrom dropped 27 against UFV it was Grassick dropping 28 against Alberta. That ability to bring offensive in waves and from different people nightly makes the Huskies a very difficult matchup.

The Huskies’ opening round matchup comes against the eight seeded Calgary Dinos who they swept in a pair of games in November with relative ease. While every game in a tournament this short matters, the Huskies will very likely be hoping to get past Calgary quickly to focus on getting back to the national final for the first time since winning in 2020.

2. Carleton Ravens (21-1 | OUA Champion)

As far as title defences go it’s been about as solid an entry as you can get for the Carleton Ravens. The only loss of the collective season for Carleton came back in December when they dropped a 74-56 decision to the Ottawa Gee-Gees who they later blew out 75-51 in the Critell Cup semifinal.

This previous weekend the Ravens matched up with the Queen’s Gaels in a rematch of the 2023 U SPORTS National Championship and things probably ended up a little tighter than the packed house at the Raven’s Nest had hoped for. Stuck 36-18 at halftime the Gaels got the game all the way back to 53-31 with 90 seconds to play. On the next two posessions Kali Pocrnic hit a pair of clutch threes to push it to 59-53 and Carleton hung on for the 63-55 win.

It was a strong season for the senior Pocrnic as the engine of the Carleton offence and she came alive in the playoffs, dropping a program-record 40 points in the Ravens’ 94-77 win over McMaster in the quarterfinal before dropping a game-high 20 in the Critelli Cup to earn MVP honours for the second straight season.

Heading into the weekend the Ravens have a tough road to repeat, with the UFV Cascades up first but this Carleton team certainly looks like one that could have a banner in their hands once again by Sunday night.

3. Saint Mary’s Huskies (17-3 | AUS Champions)

It’s been 10 years since an AUS program made the U SPORTS national gold medal game. That program was the St Mary’s Huskies way back in 2014 who lost 71-45 to the Windsor Lancers during their streak. Now though the Huskies are back as back-to-back AUS champions looking to finally get Atlantic Canada over the hump.

The Huskies earned their second straight banner thanks a 71-61 win over the St FX X-Women in the AUS semifinal before taking down the UNB Reds 64-49 in the AUS Championship. As with a lot of programs that reach this point, the main star for the Huskies this year were a pair of fifth-years in Courtney Donaldson and Alaina McMillan.

Donaldson at 15.8 points per game earned second-team All-Star honours while McMillan at 15.2 points per game earned first-team all-star honours. At the same time Huskies coach Scott Munro earned AUS Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career.

The Huskies have a tough opening matchup in last year’s national finalist the Queen’s Gaels but if they can get through that, the atlantic curse would be one game closer to being broken.

4. Laval Rouge et Our (16-0 | RSEQ Champions)

The Laval Rouge et Or absolutely cruised through the 2023-2024 season.

A perfect 16-0 through the regular season, Laval only won four games by less than 10 points (the same amount they won by more than 25 points). Led by Lea-Sophie Verret who finished with a team high 14.8 points per game, the Rouge et Or rolled through the RSEQ playoffs, blowing out McGill 75-42 before takinga. 56-33 win over the Bishop’s Gaiters for the title.

Perhaps the biggest question for the Laval Rouge et Or is how the fair against tougher competition. The Rouge et Or have only won a pair of games by less than 15 points in the twelve wins they’ve had cumulatively in 2024.

With the Alberta Pandas as their opening round opponent that also gives the Rouge et Or the challenge of facing the home crowd at it’s most raucous. When the McGill Redbirds played Alberta in the 2022 U SPORTS Men’s Final 8 quarterfinal at the Saville Centre, the crowd was a very clear factor as the Redbirds struggled to hit open shots and ultimately lost 85-68.

If they can get through Alberta though, Laval could be in for a very exciting weekend.

5. Alberta Pandas (14-6 | Canada West Finalists)

The Alberta Pandas knew they would be here but it was definitely an interesting road to get here. The Canada West champs in 2023, the Pandas had a mixed season going 14-6 and slotting into the sixth seed in the playoffs.

After taking down Mount Royal they upset the #3 Calgary Dinos 50-43 to make it to the final four. There thanks to the #10 Victoria Vikes upsetting the UBC Thunderbirds the Pandas dropped Victoria before falling to Saskatchewan in the gold medal game.

The highlights for the Pandas this season were easily the performance of 5th year Jenna Harpe who led the team with 15.4 point per game along with Ella Rees who finished third in the country with a 45.5% 3-PT field goal percentage.

The big question for the Pandas heading into the nationals might be how the crowd impacts them. It’s more often than not that the large crowd that the host draws for the National Championship serves to galvanize them. If the Pandas can power past Laval in the opening game, the crowds only promise to get louder, with a potential rematch against Saskatchewan in the semifinal.

6. Queen’s Gaels (18-4 | OUA Finalists)

If the Queen’s Gaels could stop playing the Carleton Ravens forever they would probably say yes. The Ravens have won five straight against the Gaels including the 2023 Critelli Cup, the 2023 National Championship and the 2024 Critelli Cup.

The Gaels to their credit made a game of the Critelli Cup but an 18-point halftime deficit was just too big to overcome. So the Gaels earned their second consecutive OUA silver medal and slotted into the sixth seed. It’s the same matchup the Gaels played in a year ago only then they were the three seed and took down the UQAM Citadins 75-72.

The Gaels will be in tough this year as they line up against the 2023 AUS champion St Mary’s Huskies. They will be once again led though by Julia Chadwick, who took a massive step forward in her final season. Chadwick finished fourth in the OUA at 18.4 points per game while leading the province and finishing third in Canada at 11.3 rebound per game.

If Queen’s can get through St Mary’s that leaves the potential of a possible semifinal matchup with the Carleton Ravens, and wouldn’t it be something for the Gaels to finally get one back on Carleton. They’ll have to get there first though.

7. UFV Cascades (17-3 | Canada West Bronze Medalist/Host Berth)

No, the UFV Cascades are not actually the hosts but because the Alberta Pandas made the Canada West championship and took that qualification spot instead, what would be their “host berth” this year gets transferred to the Canada West bronze medalist, in this case the UFV Cascades. 

The Cascades ended the season on a high, winning seven in a row before hosting the Canada West Championship. They ended up downing the Regina Cougars in the quarterfinal before running into the brick wall of the Saskatchewan Huskies who won an 84-50 blowout in the semifinal.

UFV rebounded though, taking down Victoria 61-42 to claim the bronze medal and thus the third Canada West spot at the 2024 Final 8.

The centrepiece for the UFV offence all year has been Maddy Gobeil who finished second in Canada West and twelfth in the country with 17.7 points per game. Still the Cascades, in their first trip to the national championship since 2014, drew perhaps the most difficult assignment in the defending champion Carleton Ravens but that also gives them the classic sports motivation of “us against the world.”

8. Calgary Dinos (16-4 | At-Large Berth)

The No.5 ranked team in the country in the final rankings of the season, the Dinos have to be happy to be at the U SPORTS Final 8 but disappointed it came in this seed.

It was thanks to a miserable shooting perfomance that the Dinos ended up being stunned 50-43 by the Alberta Pandas in the Canada West quarterfinals to crash out of the playoffs, but thanks to their strong overall season, the seeding committee gave the Dinos the at-large berth.

It truly was a strong season for the Dinos as they delivered the second-best offence in the country at 82.7 points per game, along with leading the country with 16.4 steals and 21.6 assists per game.

The key piece offensively for the Dinos was sophomore forward Louise Rouse who despite only starting five of 19 games led the Dinos with 15.7 points per game in a mixed role.

The eighth seed in the Final 8 is usually an easy win for the top spot. The Huskies will be in tough though as the Dinos certainly have as good a chance to as any to be the team that pulls off the upset.