UBC women's basketball welcomes talented recruiting class for 2025-26 season

VANCOUVER – After a strong 2024-25 campaign, the revamped UBC Women's Basketball team is getting ready to begin their Canada West season in October.

New head coach Dave Taylor is set for his first year on the Point Grey campus, and is joined by a quartet of new Thunderbird players – two experienced fifth-year transfers and two promising first-year recruits.

One of those transfers is Jaeli Ibbetson, who will don the blue and gold after playing for four years at UBC Okanagan. A Kelowna native, Ibbetson is a two-time Canada West All-Star and averaged 15.6 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists over the course of her Heat career. That includes a monstrous 2023-24 season where she averaged 17.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists, leading the conference in rebounding and finishing top-five in both scoring and assists.

That year she also led the Heat to the program's first-ever playoff win, putting up 21 points and 16 boards in a 63-57 victory over the Trinity Western Spartans, before then recording 18 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks in a loss to eventual champions Saskatchewan in the next round.



The 6'0" forward is a hardworking player who loves to score in transition and attack the glass. She's also just as hardworking in the classroom, earning five-time Academic All-Canadian status.

"I chose to come to UBC after completing my undergraduate degree at UBCO to pursue a Master in Nutrition and Dietetics," says Ibbetson. "I feel very fortunate to also get the chance to play for the Thunderbirds and can't wait for this upcoming season!"

She just so happens to not be the first T-Bird in her family either, as her father Brady Ibbetson played three seasons for the UBC Men's Basketball team from 1994-97. The older Ibbetson was part of the 1996 Canada West Championship-winning squad and that same year was one of the first two recipients of the Thunderbird Athletes Council Buzz Moore Leadership Award at the UBC Big Block Awards.

The other incoming fifth-year player is Johnstown, Ontario native Cassie Joli-Coeur. Like Ibbetson, she's a five-time Academic All-Canadian who plans to take full advantage of the educational opportunities provided at UBC, pursuing a Master of International Forestry.

"I knew I wanted to complete my Master's at UBC," remarks Joli-Coeur. "And I was excited by the prospect of playing for another high caliber team at the U SPORTS level!"
 

On the court, Joli-Coeur provides a significant presence on the inside, standing at 6'3". She runs the floor well and can get buckets both in the paint and from the midrange. She was a consistent, reliable force in her time at McMaster, playing in every regular season and playoff game in her last three seasons and starting all but one of them.

Joli-Coeur's last campaign with the Marauders was arguably her most effective yet, as she averaged 11.4 points on 46% shooting from the field and 83% from the free throw line. She also pulled down 5.9 rebounds, including better than two per game on the offensive glass. She notched three double-doubles on the year and had eight games with 15 or more points, including a career-best 41 points on 17-27 shooting against Wilfrid Laurier last October.

The stacking of the frontcourt continued on the high school recruiting trail as well, with the T-Birds securing the commitment of 6'3" forward Brooke Wagner from Sherwood Park, Alberta. She was a force on the inside for the Strathcona Lords in her senior year of high school, averaging 16.1 points and 13.4 rebounds while serving as a highly disruptive defender and relentless competitor.

An Edmonton Metro All-Star and a regular on Team Alberta at the Canada Basketball National Championships, Wagner was one of 24 players selected for the CWENCH All Canadian Basketball Games earlier this year, showcasing her status as one of the top prospects in the country.

"I chose UBC because of the great team culture, opportunity, and strong academic reputation," says Wagner, who plans to study science.
 

The Thunderbirds' backcourt will also receive a boost in the form of Maeva Carnahan, an Abbotsford native who was an Eastern Valley Athletic Association All-Star for the Yale Lions. A 5'10" guard who prides herself on her ability to the push the ball up the court with pace, she averaged 24 points and eight assists in her final year of high school.

Carnahan, who plans to join the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, showed her scoring ability in the opening round of February's 4A provincials, scoring 31 of her team's 64 points in a blowout win over Okanagan Mission. The Lions finished in sixth place at the tournament, after earning fourth place the previous season.

"I chose UBC because of its strong reputation for both academics and athletics," states Carnahan. "The supportive and welcoming environment within the athletics community played a big role in my decision to become a Thunderbird."
 

The new-look T-Birds begin their regular season on October 24th, when they face off against the UFV Cascades at War Memorial Gym.