Coming off their strongest season in nearly a decade, the University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team is seeking to pick up where they left off and continue to build toward a championship.
The 2023-24 season was a quality campaign for the Cascades, compiling a 17-3 regular season record, third place finish in Canada West, and a national tournament berth. Drawing the defending national champions and current back-to-back title winning Carleton Ravens in the first round ultimately led to a first round exit for the upstart Cascades. After travelling to Australia for exhibition tune-ups, the team is eager to get their regular season schedule rolling.
The team started with a strong showing on their international tour going 3-1 against top talent in Australia. Only one game was lost in overtime to the Sydney Flames, a professional program that competes in the WNBL, Australia’s highest level of women’s basketball.
Entering her fifth and final year with the Cascades, Maddy Gobeil stuffed the stat sheet on a consistent basis last season averaging 17.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 3.3 steals per game. She was a first team all-star in Canada West and earned herself an All-Canadian nod after being named a second team all-star the year previous.
Gobeil told The Cascade that the team is focused on continually raising their own standards in practice. When discussing what the team learned from last year’s nationals experience and how that will serve to elevate the team this year, she said, “The top teams in the country can really shoot the basketball, so it’s been a focus this off-season to raise our shooting percentage as a team.”
Another one of this year’s key contributors is expected to be fellow senior Nikki Cabuco. Cabuco expressed excitement for the opportunity to guide and mentor younger players this season. She thinks that with only one graduating player last year, and the infusion of four new rookies, expectations are high for the team to take another step forward.
Cabuco also explained that this season comes with higher emotion attached. Established Cascades players, including Gobeil and Deanna Tuchscherer, a third team all-star in Canada West last season, will be playing their final season together after being teammates since they were 15.
Cabuco is entering the season with renewed focus, and the intention to capitalize on this core group’s potential last run together. “We’re playing with nothing to hold back, and with a readiness to just leave it all on the court for one last season of being a Cascade,” she stated emphatically.
With the core of the team intact, and an off-season of further development in the books, the women are driven to arrive at the same stage come this spring. The Cascades will play a string of pre-season games in the following weeks, including a trip to Waterloo, Ontario for the interconference U Sports competition.
The regular season tips off Halloween night at 6 p.m. vs. UBC at the UFV Athletic Centre.
