TORONTO – Less than 24 hours removed from winning their ninth Canada West title in program history, the University of Calgary Dinos women's basketball team learned its seeding for this coming week's U SPORTS Final 8 national tournament.

Calgary heads into this year's tournament as the No. 3 seed and will take on No. 6 McGill Thursday at 12:30 p.m. MT.

This year's tournament is hosted by Laval in Quebec City, with all eight teams opening the tournament Thursday.

In addition to the Canada West Champion Dinos, the three other conference winners joining this year's field are the Martlets (RSEQ), TMU (OUA) and UNB (AUS). Fellow Canada West programs UBC and Saskatchewan will also join the Dinos heading east, with the Huskies earning this year's at-large berth. Carleton and host Laval round out this year's field.

This marks the third time in the last four years and 19th time overall Calgary has earned a spot at the Final 8, bringing home the Bronze Baby back in 1989.

2026 U SPORTS Championship Seeding:
1. Toronto Metropolitan Bold (OUA champions: 20-2 regular season, 3-0 playoffs)
2. UNB Reds (AUS champions: 18-2, 2-0)
3. Calgary Dinos (CW champions: 16-4, 4-0)
4. UBC Thunderbirds (CW finalists: 16-4, 2-1)
5. Saskatchewan Huskies (at-large berth: 20-0, 1-1)
6. McGill Martlets (RSEQ champions: 11-5, 2-0) 
7. Carleton Ravens (OUA finalists: 16-6, 2-1)
8. Laval Rouge et Or (host: 13-3, 1-1)

Thursday, March 5, 2024 (all times Mountain)
• 10:30 a.m.: No. 7 Carleton vs. No. 2 UNB
• 12:30 p.m.: No. 6 McGill vs. No. 3 Calgary
• 4 p.m.: No. 5 Saskatchewan vs. No. 4 UBC
• 6 p.m.: No. 1 Toronto Metropolitan at No. 8 Laval

Consolation games will take place on Friday at 5 and 7 p.m., leading to the fifth-place game on Saturday at 1 p.m. The semifinals are set for 3 and 5 p.m. Saturday. The tournament concludes on Sunday with the bronze medal game at 1 p.m. and the championship at 5 p.m. 

Tickets for the event are currently on sale at usportstickets.ca

All 11 games of the championship will be streamed on CBC digital platforms in English and Radio-Canada digital platforms in French.

-UC-