Basketball fans in Swift Current likely remember Jade Addai as a scoring phenom capable of altering games for the Swift Current Comp. Ardens with her speed and athleticism.
That scoring ability continued with the University of Toronto – Mississauga Eagles this season as she led the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association in scoring with 22.4 points per game and was named an East Division First-Team All-Star.
“It was definitely my best season ever playing basketball,” said the third-year guard.
She was also named the Eagles’ Most Valuable Player and the UTM Female Athlete of the Year, all while being named an OCAA Academic All-Star as she studied criminology and political studies.
“It was a nice way to end. I tried and put effort in. I just played every game like it was the last game I was going to play because it kind of is.”
Addai averaged 12.7 points per game in her rookie season and then 18.1 in her sophomore campaign before leading the 20-team league in scoring in 2019-20.
“It was me having confidence in myself to know what I do best. It was also just having amazing teammates where everyone kind of knew their role and knew where to be for us to be doing well in games. It just flowed well for us.”
The Varsity Eagles placed fourth in the East Division with a 10-6 record after moving over from the West Division.
“It was really good,” said Addai. “It was the best we’ve done so far, so that was good. I enjoyed it. It was a good year. It was a great team and the chemistry was amazing.”
“I think it was more intense in that sense that it was a commitment,” she said of her time with the Eagles. “University is more like you really, really wanna be there. If you’re doing it you are sacrificing a lot of time. It’s not easy. It’s a very academic school and it’s academics first all the time. You cannot mess around. So if you’re playing basketball, you really love the sport, you really want to be there. Honestly, it made me a better student I think balancing school and playing basketball,” she explained.
The 5’6’’ guard was second in the league with a 55.6 field goal percentage. She also shot 40.7 percent from beyond the arc and 63.7 percent from the foul line.
She also compiled 5.4 rebounds per game, 2.7 steals per game and 1.6 assists per game. Addai lowered her turnovers from 4.2 per game in her rookie season, to 3.8, to 1.8 this season.
She said she hasn’t changed too much since her successful run with the Ardens.
“I would say I am still pretty similar. I like to still go all-out. I’ve definitely matured in my playing. I used to never shoot, but now I shoot more,” she laughed. “But overall I am still the same kind of player.”
One of her final awards came via an online vote when she was named the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Women’s Player of the Year by College Court Report Canada.
“It was pretty cool. It was a nice little thing that they had going on there. It was just nice to see that I actually have people who supported me through my journey from grade four until now. I was really happy about that.”
Addai is slated to graduate soon and said this was likely her last season of college basketball. She is looking forward to some time off before eventually continuing her education.
