Sarah Wierks of the University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team was named a second team All-Canadian at the CIS awards banquet on Wednesday evening in Quebec City.
It was a historic achievement for the Chilliwack native – she became the first UFV basketball player to be recognized as a CIS All-Canadian, and she’s the second Cascade across all sports to earn the distinction. Spencer Schmidt, a striker with the men’s soccer team, was a first team All-Canadian back in 2007.
“It’s a tremendous honour for her to receive that, and it’s a great way for her to wrap up her career,” said Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer. “She’s very deserving, and it’s been an honour to have her in our program for five years. She’s been a big part of elevating our program to a new level in CIS women’s basketball.”
Wierks, a 6’2” fifth-year centre out of Chilliwack Secondary, authored a fantastic senior campaign – not only did she lead Canada West in scoring at 19.2 points per game (good for fourth in the nation), she also put together the greatest rebounding season in conference history.
Wierks set single-season conference records for total rebounds (307) and rebounding average (15.4), and tied the record for double-doubles with 18 in 20 games. She also established single-game marks for offensive rebounds (12), defensive rebounds (20) and total rebounds (31). She led the nation in rebounding by a huge margin, finishing 4.1 boards per game ahead of her nearest competitor.
To top it off, she also ranked second in blocks (2.2 per game) and 11th in steals (2.0 per game, a remarkable number for a centre) in Canada West this season.
Wierks wraps up her career in second place on the Canada West all-time rebounding list with 1,049 boards, and she’s mentioned 35 other times in the conference record book. She’s also rewritten the UFV team record book – she has 106 mentions on Tuchscherer’s spreadsheets of career, season, single-game and rookie top-10 marks, including 30 records that she holds sole possession of.
For Wierks, the trip to Quebec City for the CIS national banquet is a fitting bookend to her career – she also traveled there after her rookie season (2010-11) to collect a CIS all-rookie team award.
“It’s definitely nice to finish off my career on a high note after the way our season ended,” Wierks said, alluding to her team’s elimination from the Canada West playoffs at the hands of the Regina Cougars last month. “It gives me something to look back on when I’m older and be proud of.”
That said, Wierks noted that individual awards pale in comparison to what she’ll treasure most as she reflects on her Cascades career – the memories she’s made with her teammates and coaches over the years.
“I really enjoyed my season, and I want to praise my teammates,” she said. “I couldn’t have done this without their help.”
For more information, contact Dan Kinvig at dan.kinvig@ufv.ca
03/16/2015