Butts named tournament MVP

HALIFAX, NS (Feb. 22, 2026) - For the first time since 1999, the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) women's basketball championship banner will head back to UNB. 

The REDS were every bit the No. 1 seed coming into the 3-day AUS Women's Basketball Championship, beating UPEI convincingly 84-59 in the championship final played Sunday afternoon inside Halifax's Scotiabank Centre. 

Sunday's championship for UNB becomes their 29th in program history – a conference-best. 

The Panthers, playing in their second straight AUS final, failed to get the job done yet again and will now have to wait until next season to see if they can get over the hump. 

When UPEI's Grace Lancaster (Fall River, NS), an AUS First Team All-Star, hit a three-point shot to make it 9-7 with 6:15 left in the first quarter, UNB responded with a lengthy 15-1 run that gave the REDS a lead they would never relinquish. 

AUS First Team All-Star Katie Butts (Ottawa, ON) was just too much to handle, scoring 10 points in a first quarter. 

In the second UNB put their foot on the gas, getting a 14-4 run to start the quarter. Butts added five more in the quarter as UNB took a commanding 41-29 lead into the break. 

Following halftime, there was no let up. 

UNB put their foot on the gas in the third and did not let up. And while Butts dominated the first half, it was Kylee Speedy's (Fredericton, NB) turn in the second half. 

The AUS Second Team All-Star scored 20 points in the final 20 minutes of play – 14 alone in the third to register a career regular and post-season best 28-point performance, earning her the Player of the Game honours. 

Speedy barely missed from beyond the three-point arc, hitting 5-of-7 in the game. 

To UPEI's credit, they did not quit. Samantha Zoffranieri came off the bench and scored 13 points – all in the final quarter of play.  

Lancaster and her fellow fifth-year senior (and AUS Second Team All-Star) Devon Lawlor (Millcove, PE) each scored a team-high 14 points in the loss. Both received standings ovations from their bench and their supporters as they exited the game and shared in an emotional embrace with head coach Matthew Gamblin. 

Butts finished the game with 17 points and 14 rebounds to be named Tournament MVP. 

The REDS will now focus on their guaranteed berth at the U SPORTS Women's Basketball Final 8, set to be hosted March 6-8 by Laval University in Quebec City. A win there would make UNB the first AUS women's team to capture the Bronze Baby Trophy as Canada's top U SPORTS women's basketball team. 

2026 Bell AUS Women's Basketball Championship Awards

Tournament MVP 
Katie Butts/UNB REDS 

Tournament All-Stars 
Katie Butts/UNB REDS 
Kylee Speedy/UNB REDS 
Grace Lancaster/UPEI Panthers 
Ingrid Khuong/UPEI Panthers 
Bianca Helmig/Acadia Axewomen