Keyano College Huskies Athletics is proud to announce the commitment of Danika Cadieux to the Women's Basketball program ahead of the 2023-24 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Regular Season.
"Danika is going to be a very good fit," Women's Basketball Head Coach Dwayne Vigilance said. "With Zera [Lynn Panesa] leaving this year in her fifth year, it's nice to bring in a point guard, a combo guard, who can be really dynamic for us in her first year."
Cadieux, a product of Bezanson, Alta., played for Peace Wapiti Academy and Swan City Basketball in Grande Prairie, Alta., where she earned the opportunity to become a leader on the court in her Grade 12 year, helping along teammates who also missed fundamental years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It made me step up as a leader and I had to learn how to take control," Cadieux said. "The rookies, the Grade 10s, they never got their Grade Nine year.
"They didn't get the fundamental years to grow so I had to really step up as a leader."
When it came time to turn her attention to post-secondary studies, the Huskies offered the perfect balance for academic and athletics in Cadieux's mind.
"I decided to come to Keyano because of the program and everything it offered," she said. "It brought a high level of competitiveness. It just offered everything I was looking for and more."
In Cadieux, the Huskies are also adding a talented member of Alberta North's squad that claimed the Gold medal at the Wood Buffalo 2023 Arctic Winter Games in February. Cadieux's Alberta squad went 4-0-0 through the round-robin portion of the tournament, outscoring their opponents 303-189.
Following a semi-final win against Team Alaska, Cadieux and her squad topped Team Yukon in the final, with Cadieux playing a starting role and chipping in nine points.
"It was really fun facing teams from up north, because they have a completely different playing style than what you see down south in Edmonton or Calgary," Cadieux said. "It's fast-paced."
For Vigilance, the Games were where his opinion on Cadieux's ability to help the program was cemented.
"That's where I saw it," he said. "She ran that team every single game. They were undefeated, six straight [wins].
"In the final she was unreal, just defending, pushing the basketball, knocking down shots. That's what I really loved about her game."
