Bell AUS Women's Basketball Championship: Huskies pull off three-peat

Gascoigne named Bell AUS Women's Basketball Championship MVP

HALIFAX, NS (March 2, 2025) – For the third consecutive season, the Saint Mary's University Huskies are Atlantic University Sport's (AUS) top dogs.

The first-seeded Huskies started fast and never lifted their foot off the gas pedal, as they defeated the third-ranked UPEI Panthers 68-53 in the 2025 Bell AUS Women's Basketball Championship final Sunday afternoon at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, NS 

"I'm so happy right now, I'm so happy for my team. I love them so much," said Huskies forward and AUS Second Team All-Star, Lucina Beaumont, who was named the Subway Player of the Game after scoring a game-high 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. "It's a good feeling."

The Huskies become the first AUS women's basketball program to hoist the AUS banner three straight years since their predecessors won four consecutive titles from 2013-2016.

Saint Mary's will now move on to the U SPORTS Women's Basketball National Championship, which will be hosted March 14-16 by the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver. SMU finished fifth at last year's event hosted by the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

"it's going to be our third time there, and hopefully, we're going to do really well," Beaumont said about her team's trip west. "We're just going to play really good defense – that's our goal."

In their semifinal victory over Cape Breton University on Saturday, the Huskies started slow and finished with a bang. Sunday was considerably different, as they came out of the gates with a 9-2 run that took up half of the first quarter.

UPEI fought back and traded baskets the rest of the quarter to trail 20-10 after 10 minutes of play. 

The second quarter saw the Panthers score first on a Lily Vrugteman jump shot, but SMU responded with six unanswered points to quiet any momentum UPEI had hopes of capitalizing on.

Huskies star Clara Gascoigne would later score on a layup, hit a three and then make another layup to put her club up 36-18 with 2:40 left in the half.

The 2025 AUS women's basketball MVP, First Team All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year finished the first half with 16 points.

After half, SMU were just as relentless as a Lucina Beaumont three and Gascoigne layup less than a minute apart gave the two-time defending champs a 21-point cushion, 45-24.

UPEI did not quit, however. They started the final quarter with a 7-1 run thanks to a Lauren Rainford three-pointer, Sydney Cummins layup and Abby Miller jump shot.

But like the previous three quarters, the Panthers could not make enough stops on the defensive side of the court to make a big enough dent in the Huskies lead.

Gascoigne finished with 18 points and was named the 2025 Bell AUS Women's Basketball Championship Most Valuable Player.

Deborah Aboagye replied with 11 points for the Panthers with Devon Lawlor chipped in with 10.

2025 Bell AUS Women's Basketball Championship Awards
Tournament MVP
Clara Gascoigne/Saint Mary's University Huskies 

Tournament All-Stars
Clara Gascoigne/Saint Mary's University Huskies
Lucina Beaumont/Saint Mary's University Huskies
Deborah Aboagye/UPEI Panthers
Lauren Rainford/UPEI Panthers
Kiyara Letlow/Cape Breton University Capers