Cadieux shines as Women's Basketball Huskies top Thunder to extend season
Facing a potential end to their season, the Keyano Huskies Women’s Basketball team delivered a 55-44 win against the Concordia Thunder to advance to Sunday’s fifth-place game at the 2025 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Women’s Basketball Championship.
Led by a standout 24-point game from Danika Cadieux, the Huskies kept their season alive for an extra day. Jaylynn Twin and Emma Tomchuk also finished in double digits on the day, recording 13 and 12 points respectively.
“It felt really good,” Cadieux said of her performance and the win. “I don’t think I was ready or anybody else was ready to go home today. I know we really wanted it.
“The biggest motivation is just playing for each other, especially Maja. We only have one fifth year right now and we really want to get the win not just for ourselves, but conclude Maja’s career.”
In 31 minutes of action, Cadieux went seven-for-15 from the field, including three of the Huskies’ five three-pointers on the day. She also went a perfect seven-for-seven on free throws.
“I think we played as a team way better today,” Twin said. “Our defence was much better. To be honest, [Danika] stepped up, especially today and yesterday as well I feel like we both played a part in our team’s success.
“Everyone did an amazing job.”
Cadieux hit two of her three-point shots in the opening quarter as the Huskies shot 50 percent from the field as a team, also going a perfect three-for-three on free throws as a team.
“She’s coming into her own,” Head Coach Dwayne Vigilance added of Cadieux. “She did the same thing last year in the second half of the season.
“This year, [she’s] playing really well in the second half. Great honours to her, she works really hard in her game off the court and it’s showing.”
The second quarter brought more of a challenge from the Thunder, who started the quarter on a 10-2 run. With the score then tied 23-23, Tomchuk buried one from long range to initiate a 9-0 run to end the half.
The second half started with a tense standoff between both sides as neither were able to knock down a shot until the quarter was more than halfway done. As the Thunder attempted to charge back, the Huskies were able to find their footing and ended the quarter by adding five to their half-time lead.
“It was tough scoring,” Vigilance noted of the third quarter. “We couldn’t get a basket, but I think once we settled down and started moving the ball around a little bit and then got back to getting the ball inside to Jaylynn.
“It opened up a little spark there for us so it was good. This group needed a win like that and I’m very proud of them.”
As time ticked down in the fourth quarter, the Huskies relied upon Cadieux and Tomchuk to confirm the win, with the pair scoring all 15 of the Huskies’ points to close out the victory.
The Thunder were adept to pressuring the Huskies more as time went on in the final quarter, but the Huskies also made good on all five free-throw attempts to hold the challenge at bay.
“We panicked a little bit, but after we called a timeout we settled down a little bit and broke their press and was able to score off some transition stuff,” Vigilance said. “It’s tough, but I think it’s good for our young kids to battle and go through a situation like that and win the game at the end.”
Huskies to battle Ooks for fifth place
After starting the regular season playing the NAIT Ooks at NAIT, they’ll end their season in the same fashion with Sunday’s fifth-place game.
The Huskies won both of the regular season matchups, though that was more than four months ago.
The two teams will tip-off at 1:00pm MT. The game will be available on ACACTV.ca.