EDMONTON (U SPORTS) — UNB's Jayda Veinot was named the winner of the Nan Copp Trophy as U SPORTS women's basketball player of the year Wednesday night at the All-Canadian awards banquet held in Edmonton.

Other major award winners included Catrina Garvey of Toronto Metropolitan, who took home the Kathy Shields Award for Rookie of the year, while Nikki Cabuco of UFV earned the Sylvia Sweeney Award for Student-Athlete Community Service. Alberta's Claire Signatovich was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year, and Serena Tchida of Concordia won the Tracy Macleod Award for showcasing exemplary courage in overcoming adversity. Saskatchewan's Lisa Thomaidis was honoured with the Fox 40 Coach of the Year award.

The 2024 U SPORTS Women's Final 8, presented by the Westin Edmonton, gets underway Thursday at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton, and continues until the gold medal game, set for 7:30 p.m. (Mountain time) on Sunday.

Defensive Player of the Year: Claire Signatovich, Alberta

For the second-straight season, the best defensive player in U SPORTS Women's Basketball is Alberta Pandas forward Claire Signatovich. The fourth-year Winnipeg product turned in a stellar season for the Pandas, who finished conference play with a 14-6 record. Signatovich led Canada West with 37 blocks, finishing sixth in with 182 total rebounds, third with 127 defensive rebounds, while adding 30 steals.

Having already established herself as one of the best defensive players in Alberta and Canada West history, Signatovich now also becomes just the fifth player to be named national defensive player of the year multiple times, following Rachel Hart (2007, 2008), Katie Miyazaki (2010, 2011), Miah-Marie Langlois (2012, 2013, 2014) and Khaleann Caron-Goudreau (2019, 2020).

Other nominees: Clara Gascoigne (Saint Mary's), Victoria Guanoa (Bishop's), Julia Chadwick (Queen's).