HIGH ACHIEVERS: Ottawa’s Katie Butts sidelined with dislocated shoulder, after return to University of New Brunswick

By Martin Cleary

A painful buzzer-beater ended the game, the 2024-25 women’s basketball season and a career for University of New Brunswick Reds’ all-star Katie Butts of Ottawa.

Bring on the tears and rightfully so.

At that crushing moment, when the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers’ Deborah Aboagye converted a pass into a quick layup and basket with 0.9 seconds left for a 75-73 Atlantic University Sport quarter-final win, Butts was devastated.

That was not how she wanted to see her women’s university basketball career end, a game that only seconds before was tied at 73 thanks to a three-point basket by teammate Lillian Fuller. For a few seconds, there was hope for overtime and a shot at victory.

Seven months later, Butts has returned to UNB to upgrade her bachelor of arts and psychology degree with a specialty in neuroscience to the honours level and play her final year of women’s basketball for a second time. University student-athletes have five years of varsity sport eligibility.

But three minutes into the third game of the 2025-26 UNB women’s basketball season, Butts experienced more pain on Oct. 5. This time, it was from a dislocated left shoulder, which she injured in the final game of UNB’s annual Helen Campbell tournament. The Reds scored three wins in as many days to win the tournament trophy.

When Butts will return to the Reds’ lineup is uncertain, but the Ottawa-based Capital Courts prep school grad has set her own timetable.

“I’m not sure how long I will be out,” Butts said in a phone interview this week. “My plan is one month, but most will say six to eight weeks or even the whole season.”

The early-season loss of Butts will have a considerable impact on the Reds’ offence and defence as she was an all-around leader on the UNB team in 2024-25.

Butts averaged 19.1 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game and shot 44.7 per cent from the field as well as 83.2 per cent from the free throw line. She also added 32 blocked shots in 20 AUS regular-season games.

“I didn’t feel great at the moment,” she said, talking about her injury. “I’m trying to stay positive, work at getting back, staying healthy and getting physio. If I sit and sulk, that doesn’t do anything for me.”

Butts dislocated her shoulder when she positioned herself to block a shot by a St. Francis Xavier player, who was taking the ball up for a field-goal attempt.

“I went to go to block the ball. I pushed on the ball as the girl was pushing up. Two forces collided,” explained Butts, who had a partial shoulder dislocation two years ago.

But Butts is using the determination she applies on the court to do everything possible to heal her shoulder and return as soon as possible.

“Physio is helping and I plan to see a surgeon,” Butts continued, adding any required surgery would happen after the women’s basketball season. “I’m getting a brace. It’s a big ugly thing. I’ll look like Ironman. But I’ll wear whatever I need to wear to come back soon.”

Since this is Butts’ fifth and final year with the women’s basketball team, she has set some important goals for 2025-26.

The UNB women’s basketball program has won 28 AUS titles since its first in 1958-59. But its last regular-season championship was in 1998-99.

Butts is focused on helping the Reds win a league pennant and move onto the U Sports nationals. Personally, she has 970 career points in 71 regular-season games and wants to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

“This is a really big year. I hope one thing I can do is win a championship. That’s the thing my resume is missing. I hope I can do that,” explained Butts, who will be in Kingston on Friday through Sunday for the Tindall invitational tournament against Bishop’s University Gaiters, York University Lions and the Queen’s University Gaels.

“I think we look really, really good this season, which is great news. We have some good transfers, one girl is back from injury and we’re going to be really good.”

There was a chance back in the summer Butts wouldn’t return to the UNB Reds. She had applied to Dalhousie University and Western University to study speech-language pathology.

When she applied, she learned she had been put on the waitlist by both universities. But she had no idea when she would learn, if she had been accepted or not accepted.

She learned about speech-language pathology during a Grade 8 career day at D. Roy Kennedy Public School. The idea of helping young people caught her attention almost a decade ago.

“That (waitlist status) was still good for me. I could have waited, but I wanted a decision. So, on July 24, my birthday, I gave a birthday present to myself.”

That present was to return to UNB for her final year. She plans to re-apply to Dalhousie and Western for the 2026-27 academic year for speech-language pathology.

“I’m really happy to have made that decision,” Butts said about her summertime decision. “That way I knew what I was doing next year (2025-26). The university has been great to me. I’m happy to be back.”

Butts also will be happy to be back on the basketball court, whenever that process plays out.