VANCOUVER –
Keira Daly has been honoured with the Kathy Shields Award as U SPORTS Women's Basketball Rookie of the Year for 2024-25.
Putting up one of the most dominant first-year performances in program history, Daly is also a member of this year's U SPORTS All-Rookie Team while third-year forward
Mona Berlitz was named a second team All-Canadian, all announced at the U SPORTS Awards Celebration, hosted at the Sheraton Wall Centre Wednesday evening.
"It's an incredible honour and milestone for somebody just beginning her career," said UBC head coach, Isabel Ormond of her standout first-year guard. "I'm not surprised, she's put in a ton of work and came in incredibly ready to go to compete at this level and you've seen that in her play across the year."
It took no time at all for the Hamilton, Ontario product to establish herself as not only one of the top rookies in the country, but one of the most impactful players, period.
Finishing second in team scoring with 269 points in the regular season, Daly was seventh in conference points-per-game with 15.8 and second in points-per-40 minutes played with 26, all on the strength of an impressive 44.2 percent from the field.
She has elevated her game even further in the playoffs, leading all players on the court with 22 points in UBC's semifinal win over the Alberta Pandas, pushing the T-Birds to their first Canada West Final appearance in 10 years.
Daly is just the second Thunderbird in program history to be honoured with the national Rookie of the Year Award, joining Kelsey Blair who received the nod in 2002-03.
Daly, Berlitz and the T-Birds open up the Indochino U SPORTS Final 8, presented by Victory Creative, Thursday night hosting the Saint Mary's Huskies for a quarter-final. Tipoff at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre is set for 6:00 p.m.
Tickets and full tournament info are available at final8.ca.
