Port Williams’ Jayda Veinot named player of the year
Jayda Veinot of the UNB Reds was named the U Sports women’s basketball player of the year during the All-canadian awards banquet held in Edmonton on Wednesday night.
The Port Williams native received the Nan Copp Trophy, becoming the fourth player from the Atlantic university conference to earn that honour.
The UNB wing completed her university career by finishing third in the country in scoring (21.3 points per game) while averaging 7.2 rebounds and four assists per game. She also hit 91.3 per cent of her free throws, helping the Reds finish second in the conference with a 15-5 record. They reached the championship game of the AUS Final 6 for the first time in 13 years, losing to the Saint Mary’s Huskies.
It was the second AUS MVP award that Veinot had won in her career. Her first came in 2022 while playing for the Acadia Axewomen. She concluded her varsity career – three seasons at Acadia and two with UNB – by scoring 1,695 career regular-season points which places her seventh all-time in the conference.
Only Justine Colley-leger of Saint Mary’s (2013 and 2014), Acadia’s Paloma Anderson (2018) and UPEI’S Jenna Mae Ellsworth (2020) have earned the Nan Copp Trophy for the Atlantic conference.
Other U Sports major award winners included Toronto Metropolitan’s Catrina Garvey (rookie of the year), Nikki Cabuco of the University of Fraser Valley (student-athlete community service), Alberta’s Claire Signatovich (defensive player of the year), Serena Tchida of Concordia (Tracy Macleod Award for showcasing exemplary courage in overcoming adversity) and Saskatchewan’s Lisa Thomaidis (coach of the year).
The 2024 U Sports women’s Final 8 championship at the University of Alberta opened Thursday with four quarter-final games.
Third-ranked SMU faced the No. 6 Queen’s Gaels, the Ontario conference finalist, in the tournament opener.
The No. 1 Saskatchewan Huskies played the eighth-ranked Calgary Dinos, the seventh-seeded UFV Cascades took on the second-ranked Carleton Ravens and the No. 4 Laval Rouge et Or tipped-off against the fifth-ranked and host Alberta Pandas.
Consolation games are Friday, followed by the fifth-place game and both semifinals on Saturday. The championship concludes Sunday evening following the bronze- and goldmedal games.