U of R basketball star Jade Belmore hitting lofty standards

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Jade Belmore was signing postgame autographs for some young basketball fans when one, innocently enough, asked her:

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“Can you dunk?”

“Not yet,” said Belmore, a 5-foot-10 forward with the University of Regina Cougars who otherwise shoots threes, rebounds, defends, sets picks and passes to teammates just about as capably as anyone who has ever worn that uniform. And that includes Cymone Bouchard, a two-time all-Canadian who was the tournament MVP while leading the Cougars to the 2001 championship, the outstanding player in women’s university basketball in 2003, defensive player-of-the-year in 2004, retired as the team’s all-time scoring leader (1,439 in 96 conference games) and was inducted into the University of Regina Hall of Fame in 2009.

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“One of the reasons for me having this job for 19 years, is having players like Jade Belmore,” said U of R women’s basketball coach Dave Taylor, who also spent 13 seasons as an assistant coach for Jeff Speedy and Christine Stapleton before becoming the Cougars head coach in 2006.

“I have probably never been close to saying this, you know, Cymone Bouchard was the gold standard — player-of-the-year and won a Canadian title, part of a national team, too. Jade is getting into that discussion. The only thing hurting Jade, quite frankly, is our team hasn’t been as successful. But Jade’s in that discussion and I can’t give higher praise than that.”

Belmore recently added another accolade, being named by U Sports as a Top 8 Academic All-Canadian for maintaining an 80-plus average while pursuing a kinesiology degree with a major in human kinetics. Regina’s previous honourees were hockey player Kyle Ross in 2009, brothers Shawn Peters in 1999-2000 and Darren Peters in 1998 as track and field athletes and Brandi West, now the Cougars women’s hockey coach, in 2001.

Each of the four conferences named two winners from U Sports’ 4,900 student-athletes. As Canada West’s reigning player-of-the-year and a two-time all-Canadian, Belmore has also made the conference’s all-academic squad each season and plans to complete her fifth year of eligibility while pursuing a Masters degree.

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A product of LeBoldus High School, Belmore is an assistant coach with a junior team and conducts clinics locally, plus she recently instructed younger players in Nunavut and B.C., Taylor noted, making her a popular and well-known member of the community.

“Dave really stresses that being a student-athlete is what we’re here to do and you need to accomplish these things,” said Belmore. “They’re very important to me. Obviously you’re here for school and basketball is another thing to do, but (being in the community) is stressed by him, by our team and my parents, especially.

“I love school and hopefully I can continue with my Masters degree because this really means a lot to me, so I want to hang onto that awhile.”

Belmore played for Canada’s under-23 team at the 2023 GLOBL Jam in Toronto and joined a Calgary-based team for a FIBA 3-on-3 event last year in Massachusetts. She may have options and might actually prefer playing 3-on-3 basketball, which has also become an Olympic sport, because the smaller court is easier on an athlete’s body.

“If any of those opportunities arise, I’m gonna want to go to 5-on-5 and 3-on-3, that’s my hope for the summer at least,” said Belmore. “In terms of the team, I said coming into this I’m trying to get my team to nationals and that is our goal as a team.”

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Regina dropped back-to-back games this past weekend against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. In Friday’s home game at CKHS, while wearing the pink shoes she custom-designed on Nike’s website — “I’m only wearing them with the white (jerseys) … and they’re a little more expensive,” she said — Belmore hit a half-court trey at the halftime buzzer and made an impressive sprint to stop Huskies guard Gage Grassick on a fast-break. But Regina lost 67-61 to the visitors, despite Belmore’s 15 points and 27 from teammate Cara Misskey.

Third-ranked Saskatchewan won 70-61 on Saturday in Saskatoon, leaving the Cougars on a four-game losing streak with a 12-6 record and two conference games remaining. Regina has clinched a playoff berth and will travel for an opening-round game Feb. 21.

“I’m calling it playoff basketball these last few weeks,” said Taylor, looking ahead to home games Friday and Saturday against the University of Calgary. “Alberta, Saskatchewan and Calgary, all top 10 in the country, good defensive teams and everybody’s keying on Jade.”

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