Women's Basketball Huskies surge past Wolves to challenge for first place in division

Through the first nine games of the 2024-25 ACAC Regular Season, the Keyano Huskies Women’s Basketball team held a respectable 5-4 record, which felt precarious from game-to-game.

Following a weekend sweep in Grande Prairie and a pair of forfeited games by the Lakeland Rustlers, the Huskies’ win streak has now hit seven games as they’ve surged to a 12-4 record to challenge for the top spot in the ACAC’s North Division.  

“It was a good weekend for our girls,” Head Coach Dwayne Vigilance said. “Grande Prairie is a tough trip. Both games weren’t easy for us despite the score. I’m very happy coming away with two wins.”  
 
Wins by scores of 65-33 and 71-47 further cemented the Huskies in the top half of the division with just four games now remaining in their regular season.  
 
Kaylynn Tucker led the group of starters on both days, scoring 15 and 13 points respectively. However, the Huskies also surged thanks to the efforts of Jaylynn Twin, who had double-digit performances off the bench in both games, scoring 14 Friday and leading all players on the court with 16 points the following day.  

“It’s something that we talked about in the first semester, bringing her off the bench,” Vigilance added. “There’s not too much pressure on her. I don’t know if it’s something we can continue to do, but it’s something that we looked at to ensure that she played well.  
 
“So far it’s worked out.”  

Twin also collected 15 rebounds in Saturday’s win, her fourth double-double of the season. Danika Cadieux had seven points off the bench in each game as well while Maja Besic secured her ninth game in double-digit scoring with 12 points Saturday.  

While the finish line for the regular season is in sight for the Huskies, they’re also facing a bit of a lull in their regular season with no games this weekend followed by their bye week at the end of January.  

“I’m trying to keep it as status quo and then have a true bye next week, but it’s hard having two weekends off,” Vigilance added. “That game rust plays a factor, but I’m going to try to do my best to keep everything status quo.”  

Though with each passing day the Huskies also get closer to the top spot in the division, adding extra importance to their meeting in Fort McMurray on the final weekend of the regular season. While excited about the opportunity and motivation to challenge for first place, Vigilance also wasn’t looking past a formidable test against the Augustana Vikings in early February either.  
 
“King’s is a very good team, very veteran team,” he said. “It’s going to be tough to take some games off them. For us, it’s a good challenge, keeps us motivated.  
 
“The challenge ahead is we’ve got games against Augustana still, so we’ve still got to look at that to make sure we do our job in that weekend.”