Local sports briefs: U of S Huskie basketball teams open season

Article content

It was a tough start to the 2024-25 Canada West basketball season for the University of Saskatchewan men’s and women’s teams after they each suffered back-to-back losses to the host Calgary Dinos on the weekend.

On the women’s side, the Huskies were leading 37-35 at halftime on Saturday, but the Dinos fought back in the third to take a 53-50 lead heading into the final quarter and were able to maintain that to claim a 65-63 victory.

Article content

Gage Grassick led the Dogs with 21 points.

The night before, Saskatchewan fell 64-54, for their first loss, as Maya Flindall and Grassick each scored 15 points.

In men’s action, the Dinos defeated the Dogs 95-77 on Friday and 99-49 on Saturday.

Easton Thimm had a team high for Saskatchewan in the first game with 21 points, while Emmanuel Bonsu and Mohamed Jabateh each had nine points for the Huskies in the second game.

Both U of S teams will play their home-openers this weekend against the University of Manitoba Bisons.

HOCKEY

Jordan Kooy made 16 saves for the Huskies on Saturday to secure a 5-0 shutout win over the host Manitoba Bisons.

Five different Saskatchewan players scored in the victory, including Josh Pillar, Chantz Petruic, Vince Loschiavo, Cole Jordan and Dawson Holt.

The Huskies also earned the victory on Friday night, but it was a little harder to come by as they won 4-3 in a shootout after the Bisons scored with two seconds left in regulation time to tie the game and force overtime.

The wins improve the Dogs record to 7-3-0 and leave them in second place in the Canada West East Division.

Article content

Article content

Meanwhile, the women’s team is still searching for their first win of the 2024-25 campaign after dropping a pair of games to the Bisons at home at Merlis Belsher Place.

The Bisons won 4-0 on Saturday, as well as 3-2 the night before.

In Friday’s game, Kendra Zuchotzki and Sara Kendall each scored for the Huskies as the two teams ended regulation time tied 2-2, but Manitoba’s Norah Collins scored 3:10 into the extra frame for the win.

VOLLEYBALL

The Huskie men are starting their season off with a pair of wins thanks to victories over the visiting Mount Royal Cougars on Friday and Saturday.

In their first game, Saskatchewan won in three straight sets 25-20, 25-14 and 25-17, but needed one extra set on Saturday to win 3-1 (21-25, 25-16, 25-21 and 25-21).

Emmett Graham led the Huskies with 10 kills and 13 kills each night, respectively.

The women’s team was in their second weekend of action and suffered their first double losses of the season, falling 2-3 on Friday  (16-25, 23-25, 27-25, 28-26 and 13-15), as well as 1-3 on Saturday.

Saskatchewan’s Taryn Hannah had 14 kills in the first game and then followed that up with 11 kills in the second game.

Article content

Guardians win 6A football city final

In a tightly-contested game on Friday night at SMF Field, the St. Joseph Guardians walked away with a 38-34 victory over the Holy Cross Crusaders to claim the 6A football city championship.

The win comes after a regular season that saw the Guardians lose twice to the Crusaders.

St. Joseph will now move onto the provincial final against Regina Campbell on Nov. 9 at Mosaic Stadium.

Meanwhile, the Bishop James Mahoney Saints will be playing in the provincial 5A final after defeating Moose Jaw Central 31-3 in Saturday’s semifinal.

They’ll face Prince Albert Carlton on Saturday afternoon at SMF Field, at 1 p.m., for the title.

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.

Article content