By Martin Cleary
Magical. Unprecedented. Rewarding.
Those three words provide a fitting description of Julia Chadwick’s record-setting performances last weekend on the basketball court for the Queen’s University Gaels women’s basketball squad.
There was certainly nothing unlucky about the Gaels’ 13th game in their OUA regular season last Saturday as Chadwick, who is from Ottawa, had a meaningful moment every time she touched the ball against the York University Lions.
When the final buzzer sounded in the 95-53 victory for Queen’s, Chadwick had set three team single-game records for points, rebounds and field goals made.
“It’s pretty neat. A lot of amazing women have worn the Queen’s jersey in the past and to be part of that history is cool and exciting,” Chadwick said in a phone interview this week.
Her final statistical chart showed she counted 43 points, grabbed 27 rebounds and made 18 field goals.
Brittany Moore previously set the single-game points record in 2009 against Royal Military College at 40, but Chadwick had an unbelievable fourth quarter to establish the new standard. In the final 10 minutes, she connected on all 10 of her field-goal attempts and almost doubled her previous three-quarter total with 21 points.
During her scoring spree, Chadwick also passed Queen’s head coach Claire Meadows, who is No. 3 on the Queen’s single-game production list at 37 points from a game in the 2006-07 season.
Chadwick took 23 shots from the field and converted a single-game record 18 of them for an incredible .783 shooting percentage.
As Queen’s, 11-2, heads into games this weekend in Toronto against the Central-Division leading Toronto Metropolitan University Bold and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, Chadwick stands fourth in OUA regular-season scoring with a 17.7 point-per-game average.
But Chadwick, a graduating six-foot, one-inch senior forward, was more than just a scorer against York as she also was in the right place at the right time to collect a record 27 rebounds. Eight of those rebounds were registered in the fourth quarter.
That rebound performance allowed her to revisit her university record in that category, which she established last season at 22.
As impressive as she was offensively, Chadwick gave an equal effort on defence. Nineteen of her 27 rebounds were on the defensive side. When she wasn’t positioning herself for another rebound, she blocked five shots by the Lions, which was one shy of the Queen’s single-game record.
Chadwick is ranked fourth in the OUA in rebounds with 9.8 a game. She also is the only OUA player in the top five standings for scoring and rebounding.
And just to round out her golden-game against York, she had two other best-efforts this season – most field goals attempted at 23 and most assists at four. She also played 35 minutes, which was her second highest total this season.
“I honestly didn’t expect to do anything like this,” Chadwick added. “I was really relaxed, calm and confident and that transferred into the perfect game I had.
“It happened quickly. I haven’t had time to process what happened, but our team has a lot of depth and that made it easier.”
The night before her magical outing against York, Chadwick also was impressive at both ends of the court in Queen’s 101-58 victory over the McMaster University Marauders.
In a mere 22 minutes on her home court, Chadwick made 11 of her 15 shot attempts (.733 shooting percentage), including one three-pointer and one free throw for a 24-point effort. She also managed five offensive and four defensive rebounds.
Chadwick’s unexpected weekend of achievement – making 29 of 38 shots, scoring 67 points and pulling down 36 rebounds in 57 minutes – earned her Player of the Week honours from Queen’s, the OUA and U Sports.
“Having a consistent scorer like Julia Chadwick on the team doesn’t happen often,” Meadows said in a Queen’s press release.
“When they see she is feeling it, the team rallies around that. They want to give her the ball and let her go to work.”
Chadwick certainly agreed.
“When one individual is having a good game, they will make an effort to help her,” echoed the former Nepean High School student. “They recognized that when I started to get reps, they found it was working for me.”
And it has never worked as well as it did Saturday against York.
“I have never had a game quite like that,” Chadwick said with a slight laugh. “I was pretty surprised. I didn’t expect it to happen. It was crazy. I didn’t think too much about making shots. That helped. I didn’t overthink it.”
“But it was nice to have the moment with my team. They made it special and they played for me.”
Chadwick enrolled at Queen’s and played her first season with the Gaels in 2019-20. She had transferred from Robert Morris University, where she scored eight points in 53 minutes of floor time in her only season. She decided to leave after her first year because it “wasn’t the right fit for me.”
Being a key part of the Gaels’ program for the past four seasons over five years (no competition in 2020-21 because of COVID-19) was the right move for Chadwick.
Queen’s has qualified for the U Sports Final Eight national championship tournament the past two seasons, winning the silver medal in 2023 and the bronze in 2022. Sitting No. 4 in this week’s U Sports women’s basketball rankings, Queen’s is likely to challenge for another national medal in March.
“It has been pretty amazing,” Chadwick said about her university experience. “Being from Ottawa and going to Kingston, I’m close to home. My family can come to games.
“I’m coached by Claire Meadows and her staff and they are really amazing. Being a part of this team is a great experience. I feel it’s a great fit for me. We are all close on and off the court. It’s fun to play for each other.”
Chadwick, who attended Henry Street High School in Whitby, ON., for Grades 11 and 12 and played for Durham Elite in the JUEL League, received her B.A. in economics in the spring of 2023 and plans to earn her master’s degree in industrial relations this summer.
When Chadwick completes her university education and basketball career this year, she may explore the women’s professional game.
Besides being an OUA first-team all-star and a second team All-Canadian in 2023 as well as an OUA East Conference first team all-star in 2022, she was a silver medallist for Canada at the 2018 FIBA U18 Americas championship, a silver winner for Ontario at the 2017 Canada Summer Games and a U16 gold medallist for Ontario at the Canadian youth championships.
Individually, she also was named the Girls’ Showcase Team White MVP at the Biosteel All-Canadian all-star game.
Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.