Women's Basketball Huskies look to leaders to guide young incoming core
With seven new faces to a 17-person roster, this year is the start of a new era for the Keyano Huskies Women’s Basketball team.
In talking to Head Coach Dwayne Vigilance, the goal remains the same, but the journey may just take a little longer.
“We’re young; we’re still learning,” he said. “I really feel that as the season progresses we’ll get better and better.
“As always, our goal is to be in the playoffs and I think we have the team to do that, but we have some work to do.”
Coming off last year’s 14-6 record and sixth-place finish, there was plenty to be positive about. The Huskies had the fifth-best field goal percentage in the entire conference and were among the top three to four in the ACAC’s North Division for the other major statistical categories.
The Huskies schedule begins Friday, October 17 at the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre, the first of four-straight home games, which could help acclimatize the Huskies’ new recruits to the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC).
This year, they’ll be challenged to meet and exceed that with a younger roster under a new leadership group in the trio of Ryley Bullock, Jaylynn Twin, and Emma Tomchuk.
“It’s a different type of leadership,” said Vigilance. “I think with Ryley coming in from B.C. helps us quite a bit.
“With Jaylynn and Emma, their experience is huge to the young players, giving them that confidence that we need. With [Jaylynn] playing her last year, her leadership is very important.”
Highlighting the key metric of sisterhood, Vigilance thinks his club can succeed and place well in a competitive North Division.
“Outside of King’s being the most dominant team I feel right now, I think all across the board it’s pretty even,” he said. “I think we’re all relatively have a mix of young, have a mix of old.”
The Huskies open the 2025-26 season by hosting the Medicine Hat College Rattlers Friday, October 17 at the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre.