Cougars’ Belmore earns Canada West honour, but focus is on reaching nationals

Jade Belmore has already accomplished a lot as a member of the University of Regina Cougars, but she has fallen short of one of her ultimate goals.

The third-year wing has yet to play in the U Sports women’s basketball championship tournament.

“Right now, we have our job to do with Canada West,” Belmore said. “It means a lot; it has always been a goal of mine to help this team get to nationals. We for sure have the team to do it this year and that makes me really excited.

“That is always the goal and we fell short of that last year, so we are coming back for some revenge.”

Cougars head coach Dave Taylor agrees that Belmore is only focused on one goal this season.

“That group hasn’t made it to nationals yet. She would be the first to tell you that’s her No. 1 goal,” Taylor said.

Belmore and the Cougars will open the Canada West playoffs Wednesday against the Manitoba Bisons in Abbotsford B.C. The two teams that make the conference final will get berths into the U Sports national title tournament.

If the University of Alberta reaches the final, that could possibly open up a berth for a third Canada West team since the national tournament is being held in Edmonton.

“It’s super-exciting. We have been looking forward to this all year, obviously. (It’s) a different playoff format now, but (we’re) still looking forward to it nonetheless,” Belmore said.

“It means a lot to us. I think as a team we have grown for sure. After Christmas we have been on a roll and have some momentum, so it for sure means a lot to us and hopefully we can continue that in playoffs.”

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While the Regina product hasn’t played in a national tournament, she has become one of the elite players in Canada West.

The former LeBoldus Golden Suns star was named the conference’s player of the year on Wednesday after leading Canada West with 18.3 points per game. She is the third player from the school to win the award, joining Cymone Bouchard (2004) and Joanna Zalesiak (2012).

When Taylor was recruiting Belmore, he had placed goals for her every year and she has managed to hit all of them. She was the Canada West rookie of the year in the 2021-22 season and was the university’s female athlete of the year in 2022-23.

This year, she also was named a Canada West first-team all-star, earning that honour for a second straight season.

Taylor said Belmore’s potential was easy to see when she was playing high school basketball.

“I used to tell her when she was playing high school that she would have these ‘Jade Moments.’ She would just take over the game,” Taylor said. “She always wants to get her teammates involved, but there would be stretches where everybody who walked into the gym would look and go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s the best player by far.’

“She would just dominate the game for stretches and you saw those flashes and knew those would translate to the next level.”

When it came to deciding where she would play her university basketball, Belmore decided to stay home in the Queen City.

“Regina has a great community. Sometimes you don’t realize that until you’re actually in the gym with 2,000 people watching you,” she said. “That to me struck more than other places.

“I love to be home with my family, but just the community and the support system that I have here is outstanding and the community cares about our program. We have developed a really good program and hopefully continue to do so. It meant a lot for me to stay home and now start providing back to my community.

“When I used to look up to the Cougars when I was very little and used to go to the games, it meant a lot to me, so now I wanted to do that and start the same thing and provide that for my community as well.”

She also has had a taste of international basketball after playing with the Canadian under-23 team at last summer’s GloblJam in Toronto.

“It was such a cool experience,” Belmore said. “I was playing a different role than I do with the Cougars. I learned a lot and it was a really cool atmosphere and I was very grateful to be representing my country and U Sports as well being the only U Sports player there.

“It was eye-opening for me and I’m super-happy I got to have that experience. Hopefully that’s going to be the same case this summer but we will see. (I) just put in a lot of work for that. It was super-cool and I can’t wait to hopefully do that again next summer.”

At the tournament, Canada ultimately fell 68-66 in the final to the American team.

“It’s a different game of basketball, I can tell you that — not better or worse but it is a different game and I think I learned that while playing in those games that it’s not the same. There are some big girls down there who play and are very physical,” Belmore said.

“It was so cool to just be able to experience that and play with some athletes who were raised in the Canadian game and are now playing in the U.S. It’s very cool to learn and get that experience from a different game of basketball.”

But while Belmore hopes to have a successful career representing Canada on the world stage, her eyes remained focus on getting to the U Sports Final 8.

“It’s kind of wild that I’m more than halfway done my career; it feels like I’m still a rookie,” she said. “I’m grateful I have some more opportunities too but I want to get the job done now with the team.

“That’s been my goal for these five years – I said that to Dave coming in (to the program). I said I want to win a national championship with this team and that’s always on my mind. I’m happy I have a couple more years to do so, but hopefully this year’s the year.”

Thomaidis named coach of the year

After the University of Saskatchewan Huskies fought their way to a 19-1 Canada West record, head coach Lisa Thomaidis is adding to her trophy case.

The U of S coach, who is in her 25th season, was named the Canada West coach of the year. She has previously won the award in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2016.

The Huskies are the No. 1-ranked team in the conference and ranked second in U Sports, behind only the Carleton Ravens.

Thomaidis is seeking her ninth conference title with the Huskies, with the last coming in 2022.

She has also added to her international resumé as well, helping the German women’s team qualify for the Olympics for the first time in that program’s history.