Masikewich turns over new leaf on Team Canada
Summer Masikewich had a summer to remember. Her winter isn’t turning out too bad, either.
After a summer stint with Canada’s national junior team and at the FIBA World Cup U19 women’s basketball championship in Italy, where Canada placed third, Masikewich has carried on her stellar play at the U Sports level with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
Masikewich leads Saskatchewan in scoring and rebounding, averaging 17.8 points and 7.9 rebounds to go along with 0.6 assists per game. She leads the Canada West conference with a sterling 65.4 shooting percentage.
“She’s off to a great start,” says Huskies head coach Lisa Thomaidis, whose team plays host to the Calgary Dinos on Friday and Saturday at the PAC.
“She’s really come along. She’s improved her athleticism. She’s done a great job in the off-season. I find she’s quicker, she’s stronger and it’s paid off in her play so far. She’s taken her game to another level right now. The fact that she’s only a second-year (U Sports player) is very exciting for us and her as well.”
Last season as a rookie, Masikewich averaged 8.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. The six-foottwo post player was already playing the part of a starter. Now, she’s looking the part, too. “It’s funny because she’s really come back as just a more mature player,” adds Thomaidis. “Just looking at how she’s transformed her body, she looks like an elite athlete now. She’s put on some muscle. She’s gained some confidence. She’s played against the best players in the world at her age group. There’s not anything that she hasn’t seen before, which is pretty cool for someone her age. She had a great year last year and stepped into a starting role and a productive role as a rookie and she’s just continuing on.”
Masikewich grew up in a basketball family. Her father played for the Dinos. Her mother played for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.
Summer hit the weights hard during the off-season in Calgary while preparing for Team Canada tryouts.
“I really bumped up how much I was lifting a week because the posts and players in FIBA are so much stronger,” she explains. “It helped me to make that team and it’s helped me even more now.”
Masikewich made a conscious effort to not only get stronger and compete with the more physical post players in U Sports, but also build on more skills “like moving my shooting further out and adding more moves to my package from the short corner and front rim.”
Thomaidis, who coaches Canada’s senior women’s team, has certainly noticed the difference.
“She put a lot of time in,” Thomaidis says of Masikewich’s off-season regimen. “Obviously being with the national junior team is a big one, too, just playing with very athletic, longer players. She played a solid role with that team. It’s not like she was sitting on the bench.”
Masikewich joined Huskies guard Libby Epoch on Canada’s U19 team. For her part, Masikewich can’t say enough about the “great” experience, which also included some exhibition games in France.
“Definitely an amazing summer,” she says.
As Masikewich gets older and more experienced, Thomaidis sees her emerging star player continuing to evolve.
“The big thing for her is we’re going to gradually keep moving her away from the hoop because she is such a good athlete,” points out Thomaidis.
“She’s not the Dalyce Emmerson, her back fully to the basket. She kind of has the ball skills and quickness of a guard. She’s been able to start putting the ball on the floor a little bit, facing up. With Kyla Shand in the mix, we have a bit of flexibility where Summer can play a bit of a (No. 4 role) and we can have kind of a bigger lineup out there.”
Maybe Masikewich will evolve into a guard some day?
She laughs.
“Maybe,” she replies. “I don’t know. (But) I think I would like moving more to a No. 4 position. It makes me more of a threat to play more than one position. I like driving (from the wing) and (shooting) from the three-point line. Adding that to my package will be beneficial.”