VANCOUVER (Mar. 16, 2025) - The Saskatchewan Huskies played spoiler on Sunday night beating the Carleton Ravens 85-66 in the 2025 U SPORTS Final 8 Championship Game.
The silver medal is the first in women's basketball program history. The Ravens have now earned five national medals since 2017 including medals in three straight seasons.
The first quarter started with a wild back-and-forth pace before Logan Rieder drained a three to put the Huskies ahead by five. Teresa Donato would knock down a three of her own and then score a layup to put Carleton ahead as the game reached the midway mark of the quarter.
Saskatchewan found a rhythm in the tail end of the quarter as Ella Murphy Wiebe and Andrea Dodig hit back-to-back threes to jump ahead by six. Player of the Year Gage Grassick made a pair of free throws at the end of the quarter and the Ravens trailed 24-16 at the first break. Grassick would go on to score 35 in the finals as she earned tournament MVP.
Carleton struggled to find a rhythm at either end of the floor in the second. The Huskies would capitalize on the Ravens' misses at the offensive end and take a 10-point lead with little over three minutes to play in the half. Saskatchewan went to work in the paint throughout the opening 20 minutes leading the rebounding battle by 8 and outscoring Carleton 24-18 inside. At the half, Carleton found themselves behind 45-31.
Foul trouble was costly for Carleton in the first half as the Huskies made the most of their 12 trips to the line, scoring 9 points on free throws. Andrea Dodig had five free throws for the Huskies as she led all scorers with 12 points at the break. Tatyanna Burke and Kyana-Jade Poulin led the Ravens with 8 points each.
Carleton lived by the three as they tried to climb back into the game, but at every turn Saskatchewan had the answer. Gage Grassick heated up in the third quarter hitting three triples as the Huskies led by as much as 21. At 31.6%, Carleton’s 6 of 19 perimeter shooting still left them behind the Huskies who were 8 of 17 entering the fourth. Teresa Donato’s last-minute three cut the lead to 15 in the final seconds of the quarter and gave the Ravens a glimmer of hope.
Donato would open the fourth with another three and the Ravens were within 13. After the Huskies scored a pair at the line, Kyana-Jade Poulin nailed a triple to make it a 12-point game only for Grassick to drain another one of her own.
Back-to-back buckets in the paint from Murphy Wiebe and Grassick stunted the Ravens' run as the Huskies returned their advantage to 17. Kyana-Jade Poulin would drop another corner three to put Carleton back within 13 with 6:02 to play. Saskatchewan’s Tea DeMong fouled out of the game with 5:32 to play and the Ravens quickly built momentum with Teresa Donato earning at a hard and-one bucket and making it count at the line. Donato’s heroics were unfortunately the Ravens' last real charge back into the game.
The Huskies lead remained 14 with three minutes to play when Jacqueline Urban hit a pair at the line and the Ravens forced a stop on defence. Back-to-back Ravens turnovers saw the lead expand to 16 as Gage Grassick scored eight straight points securing the win for the Huskies.
Capping off impressive U SPORTS careers, Tatyanna Burke and Teresa Donato were named Final 8 Tournament All-Stars. Donato's 61 points, including 24 in the finals, were the third most ever scored in a single tournament, with her 9 free throws against Bishop's setting a single-game program record. Donato also recorded 7 consecutive free throws against Saskatchewan in the finals.
A start throughout the tournament, Tatyanna Burke's 8 field goals against Ottawa are the third most ever scored by a Raven in a single U SPORTS Championship tournament game. Her 20 career steals, in 9 tournament games, are tied for the most by any Raven in program history. With 8 steals in the tournament, Burke's three-game performance was the third-best in program history.
