In June, Prince Albert’s Gage Grassick accomplished what no female student-athlete with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies has done before her, when she was announced as the recipient of the Lois and Doug Mitchell Award.
“It was really incredible to hear my own name that night and just all of the emotions that go with it,” said Grassick, a fourth-year with the Huskies women’s basketball team. “I still to this day can’t put words to that feeling.”
The award is given to the top female and male athletes across all of U SPORTS and has only been won by a Huskie athlete once before — men’s volleyball player Adam Ens. It was the finishing touch to a 2024-25 season that saw Grassick rack up a lengthy list of accolades.
“If you’d have told me when I went into high school and chose basketball as a sport that ‘In a couple of years you’re going to win this award,’ I would’ve laughed in your face.”
It’s not bad for someone who grew up learning the finer skills of basketball — dribbling, shooting and defense — while playing one-on-one against her brother on a grass court at her family farm.
On top of several additional individual awards and records, including Huskies and Canada West Female Athlete of the Year, Grassick and her teammates also claimed Canada West and U SPORTS titles this season. The latter of which, Grassick notes, is the accomplishment she’s most proud of.
“At the end of the day, that national championship, that Bronze Baby that we held at the end of the year that we won as a team was probably the one that’s so special to me. To see all of the hard work and dedication that we all put into it.”
That victory, which saw the Huskies defeat the Carleton Ravens 85-66 in the final, was only the third time Saskatchewan has captured the national title. Prior to that, the program won in the 2019-20 season and it was one of the factors that led Grassick to choosing the U of S for her post-secondary career, even though she originally had the dream of playing in the United States.
“Ultimately, from my very first recruiting visit, I knew it was home. I knew the culture, I knew the community the U of S created and that you could be a part of something so special that I could never give it up,” she recalled. “And knowing that I was going into, at the time, the best program in Canada, I felt so honoured to say that I was going to play there.”
Those kinds of opportunities to develop and connect are what Grassick has come to expect having grown up in the Saskatchewan sport scene.
Throughout her basketball career and also while playing volleyball in high school, Grassick says there were several different ways for her to participate in sport, whether it was camps, tournaments or through club teams. She also had local mentors to look up to, including former Huskie women’s basketball players and Prince Albert products, Erica Gavel and Dalyce Emmerson.
Now, Grassick is stepping into her own as a mentor for young athletes on-and-off the basketball court while providing opportunities through camps and hopes that her accomplishments will help inspire the next generation to follow in her footsteps, especially in Prince Albert.
“It really is a great honour and I couldn’t be more proud, not only to come from Prince Albert, but to have young athletes look up to me. I’m so excited to continue to give back to the community whether it be in the basketball world or in general and see young athletes reach the potential that they can.”
For a full list of Grassick’s accolades, visit huskies.usask.ca.