With a renewed sense of urgency, Bisons women's basketball is ready to take the next step

After another playoff appearance last season, Manitoba enters 2026-27 with a talented returning core, five new additions and a clear belief that the time to turn potential into results is now.

There is a different feeling around the Manitoba Bisons women's basketball team heading into the 2026-27 season.

The core of the group is familiar. The connections are still there. The chemistry that has become a defining characteristic of the program remains firmly intact.

But there is something else now, too: urgency.

After falling to eventual Canada West Champions Calgary in last season's play-offs, the Bisons return with a roster that has added significant talent, size and versatility — and with a group that believes it has everything it needs to make a much deeper run.

The question is no longer whether Manitoba has the pieces.

It is whether the Bisons can put all of those pieces together, demand more of themselves and become the team they believe they are capable of being.

"We're excited for the opportunity in front of us," said Bisons head coach Michèle Sung. "Every season is an opportunity for a group of people to come together and become something bigger than they could individually. We want our players to challenge themselves, challenge each other and leave this season better than they found it — as basketball players, teammates and people.

"We want to be a team that is difficult to play against every single day — a team that competes, challenges each other and continues to get better. There's a lot of work ahead, but there's also a lot of belief in this group."

Fust gives Bisons another difference-maker

Perhaps the biggest reason for that belief is the arrival of Izzi Fust.

The former Dakota Collegiate standout returns home after two seasons with the Regina Cougars, where she established herself as one of the top young players in U SPORTS. A six-foot-one wing with starting experience, Fust was named to both the Canada West and U SPORTS All-Rookie teams in 2024-25 and represented Canada at Global Jam in 2025.

Now, she joins a Bisons roster already filled with players she knows well, including her sister Kyu, along with former Dakota teammates Darya Rom, Hope Larocque and Taylor Schepp.

But Fust's impact is about much more than familiarity.

She gives Manitoba a player who can score in a variety of ways, create for herself and others, and defend virtually anywhere on the floor. More importantly, she gives the Bisons a player with the potential to become the player opponents have to account for every night.

With Fust in the fold, the Bisons can play bigger without sacrificing athleticism, play smaller without losing size and change their approach depending on the personnel on the floor.

That flexibility is becoming one of the defining strengths of this year's group.

Five additions add size, physicality and new dimensions

Fust is one of five additions to the 2026-27 roster, with Manitoba also welcoming Faith Larocque, Emilie Mclean, Kiley Schettler and Spanish point guard Sonia Gómez Herresanchez.

Larocque gives the Bisons another physical presence up front. The six-foot forward joins Manitoba following a dominant season at Providence, where she helped lead the Pilots to an undefeated campaign and an MCAC championship. She averaged 14.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in 2025-26 and collected a long list of individual honours, including MCAC Player of the Year and championship MVP.

Her ability to rebound, defend and play through contact adds another dimension to a frontcourt that wants to be bigger and more physical this season.

Mclean, meanwhile, represents one of the program's most intriguing long-term additions. The six-foot-one Dakota product was one of the province's top recruits and brings excellent size and mobility to the interior. As a high school senior, she showed just how high her ceiling could be, posting 24 points, 18 rebounds and 10 blocks in a provincial semifinal.

The Bisons know there will be a learning curve as Mclean develops, but the tools are obvious. The long-term goal is to continue expanding her game beyond the post and develop her into an even more versatile piece.

A returning core ready to take ownership

For all the attention that comes with the newcomers, the identity of this team will ultimately be established by the players who have been here and know exactly what another early playoff exit feels like.

Taylor Schepp is expected to take the reins as the team's lead point guard, and if her preparation is any indication, she is more than ready for the responsibility.

Anna Miko is entering her fourth season and has quietly become one of the most important pieces of the program.

There has not been one defining breakout season for Miko. Instead, she has continued to improve year after year, building her game while growing into a natural leader. This offseason, that process became even more evident as Miko attacked her training with a renewed sense of urgency following another disappointing playoff ending.

That urgency has become contagious.

Samantha Onyebuchi is another player whose best basketball came as last season progressed. One of the team's most physical players, Onyebuchi has battled through multiple knee surgeries and spent the offseason preparing herself to be in the best possible physical position to reach her ceiling.

And then there is Ayva Khan.

The lone true fifth-year player on the roster, Khan represents everything the program wants a Bison to be. A high-level defender, reliable three-point shooter and one of the most respected people in the room, she enters her final season as the heart and soul of the team.

She may not always be the player who fills up the box score, but she is one of the players Manitoba will rely on most to keep the group connected, accountable and moving in the right direction.

Together, that returning group gives Manitoba something that cannot be added through recruiting: experience with the expectations of the program.

The next step is accountability

The Bisons like one another.

That has never really been a question.

But this year, the coaching staff wants that chemistry to mature into something more demanding.

The team has to be willing to challenge one another when expectations are not being met. They have to stop being satisfied with being close. And they have to develop the belief that they are capable of being a very good basketball team — without allowing the fear of failing to become the thing that prevents them from playing freely.

The challenge, in many ways, is mental.

The Bisons have confidence in themselves in the right circumstances. What they have struggled with is maintaining that confidence when things stop going according to plan.

That is the next piece.

A bigger goal awaits

"We want our players to leave this season better than they found it, but we also want them to understand that excellence doesn't happen by accident," said Sung. "It comes from what you do every day.

"There is a lot of work ahead of us, but there is a lot of belief in this group. Now we have to earn the right to be the team we believe we can become."

For the 2026-27 Bisons, that may be the biggest challenge of all.