‘It’s like a dream’: Undefeated Kodiaks Women’s Basketball team wins national title

The Lethbridge College women’s basketball team that never lost a game the entire season, are now national champions.

Did you expect anything different?

Saturday night, the star studded group thumped Montreal’s Dawson College in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association final 81-57.

The Kodiaks won all three games at Nationals, running their undefeated streak to a phenomenal 27 games. They’ve proven they’re the best in the country, but as time was ticking down, some Kodiaks were still nervous.

“I was just thinking, ‘ok is there any way they could score 30 points in a minute and half’ because we can’t let that happen,” said 5^th year Kodiak Shantaya Strebel with a laugh. “I was just so excited because we all wanted it so bad.”

The Kodiaks season was cut short in the ACAC playoffs a year ago when the then undefeated team lost to NAIT, ending their year before they could get to Nationals. Since then, the team has been on a mission, determined to finish what they couldn’t a year ago.

“We’re actually grateful the way last season ended,” Strebel said. “It honestly made us work so much harder this year. It made it so worth it. Our desire for the championship changed, we really, really wanted it.”

Now that they’ve done it, the Kodiaks can call themselves national champions. Although, it make take some time to get used to.

“It still doesn’t even seem real,” Strebel said. “I woke up and my mom texted me ‘You’re a national champion and it wasn’t a dream’. But it really does feel like a dream.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It still doesn't even seem real," Strebel said. "I woke up and my mom texted me 'You're a national champion and it wasn't a dream'. But it really does feel like a dream."

Kodiaks Head Coach Brad Karren is so proud of what the girls have accomplished this year.

“There were some people saying if you get them out of their run and gun they can’t play half-court defence. But we proved we’re the best defensive team in the country,” Karren said.

This group is the fourth Kodiaks women’s basketball team to win a national title, an honour that will last, forever.

“Once you’re called a national champion no one can take that away from you, and that’s what I told the team,” Karren said. “That’s something you have for life. It’s something few people can say. Very few people get the chance to do it, and they did it.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Once you're called a national champion no one can take that away from you, and that's what I told the team," Karren said. "That's something you have for life. It's something few people can say. Very few people get the chance to do it, and they did it."