Pronghorns swept by Saskatchewan

By Lethbridge Herald on January 20, 2026.

Nathan Reiter

Lethbridge Herald

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns couldn’t pull off a win on home court in their final home weekend of the season, as both the men’s and women’s basketball teams were swept by the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

For the women, Lethbridge fell 101-52 in Friday’s contest while the Huskies completed the weekend sweep with a 79-59 triumph on Saturday.

Saskatchewan is currently ranked number one in the country and are the defending U SPORTS national champions. The Huskies have not lost a game since Nov. 2, 2024.

In an interview with the Herald following the game on Saturday, Pronghorn head coach Dave Waknuk says he was happy with the improvement Lethbridge showed between the two games.

“It’s a big swing. You finish at that 20 point gap, I think it felt closer than that throughout the game. I think our defensive effort was better. They’re a very talented offensive team, so it takes so much focus and so much consistency on defense. I felt like we found that. We found our longer possessions and better communication. I think we played more physical. That’s a very talented team, but I’m really happy with how we played defensively.”

On Friday, Piper Dobbelsteyn and Rae Wedman paced Lethbridge with 11 points each. Courtney McKee also posted double digits with 10 points. Saskatchewan was led by fifth year Tea DeMong who had 21 points, Gage Grassick Ella Murphy Wiebe each had 18 while Maya Findall added 15.

In Saturday’s contest, the Pronghorns were within striking distance for most of the game, being within five points of the Huskies in the second half. Saskatchewan would pull away in the fourth quarter outscoring Lethbridge 20-8. 

Waknuk says Lethbridge will look to build off the strong effort going into the final two weekends of the season.

“You just got to keep realizing that’s the number one team in the country and they’re gonna have a great championship run ahead of them. We were with them and we played good three quarters of basketball against them. You play that quality of basketball against anybody, you can beat anybody in this league. You got to take it, you got to learn from it. You almost want to bottle it up and bring it with you.”

McKee led the Pronghorns in scoring with 21 points while Dobbelsteyn contributed 13 for Lethbridge. Grassick led Saskatchewan offensively with 25 points while Findall (24), DeMong (12) and Olivia Harm (12) were the other double digit scorers for the Huskies.

Men drop pair of close contests

The Pronghorn men were on the wrong side of two games that would have gone either way.

A strong fourth quarter helped Saskatchewan to an 80-75 win on Friday night. The Huskies outscored Lethbridge 22-13 in the final frame to pull out the victory. 

Easton Thimm led Saskatchewan with 22 points in the winning effort. Emmanuel Bonsu (12) and Mohamed Jabateh (13) were the other double digit scorers for the Huskies.

Lethbridge had three double digit scorers in Joe Lemieux (26), Kymani Pollard (18) and Bryce Solis (10).

The Huskies came out on a 13-0 run to start the game on Saturday and were able to hold off the Pronghorns late to hang on to an 81-77 victory.

Pronghorn head coach Kenny Otieno says the weekend was a tough pill to swallow

“It’s tough, especially this one hurts a little bit because it’s a back-and-forth game. We had to claw back and we didn’t have the greatest start but our guys fought back and made it a close one possession game in the last couple minutes and had the lead for a little bit. Those are the types of games that are extremely emotional and tough to deal with. It’s hard to not point the finger at myself for not strategizing a little differently on certain occasions. I’m going to take the blame for not having us as well prepared as we should have but I’m proud of my guys for battling back and having that resilience to fight through a lot of different situations.”

Pollard (20), Solis (13), Lemieux (11) and Mason Hoffman (12) were the double digit scorers for Lethbridge.  Saskatchewan was led by Mohamed Mahadhi (17), Bonsu (14), Thimm (12) and Jabateh (15) 

During the fourth quarter, the Pronghorn faithful were very involved trying to help Lethbridge to the come-from-behind victory. 

“It’s always been just a pleasure in terms of feeling that love from the community, especially in situations win or lose.” Otieno explained. “We’re trying to build something special here and I think that only comes for the support from our community and it means a lot to the coaches, it means a lot to the players when we have and feel that support from the crowd. When you feel that love from the crowd. it boosts us and Southern Alberta and Lethbridge in general has always been great for that.”

Lethbridge will hit the road next weekend as they travel to take on the University of Winnipeg.