REGINA -- Members of Saskatchewan’s basketball community are celebrating a milestone in sports broadcasting after TSN hosted its first all-female NBA broadcast on Wednesday.

“It was remarkable, I thought they did an awesome job,” said Lisa Thomaidis, head coach of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team.

Thomaidis is also the head coach of Canada’s Olympic women’s basketball team. One of the members of the 2016 team that competed in the Rio Olympics was Kia Nurse, who was an analyst during Wednesday night’s broadcast. 

“I knew that Kia would kill it. She’s so great in that environment. She has great basketball IQ, has great insight into the game, so knowledgeable, so well-spoken,” Thomaidis said. 

Other members of the broadcast included hosts Kate Beirness and Amy Audibert, sideline reporter Kayla Grey and play-by-play broadcast Meghan McPeak. 

“It should have happened a lot sooner at the same time I think it’s incredible though,” said Katie Tonita, a member of the University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team. 

However, Tonita didn’t watch the broadcast – which featured the Toronto Raptors and Denver Nuggets – she was preoccupied with her March Madness women’s bracket.

The Cougars have a team bracket challenge going in conjunction with the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments.

Tonita follows the women’s college teams year-round, but said it’s still challenging to find information for the women’s tournament that is so easily available regarding the men’s tournament. 

“For someone who doesn’t keep up with them regularly it would be very tough to find information about them,” Tonita said.

In the past, Canadian television networks didn’t cover the women’s tournament, only the men’s. However, this year TSN has increased its coverage of the NCAA women’s championship. 

“In March, I would have to phone up a Boston Pizza, see if they had ESPN and if they would turn one of the 10 [TV’s] that were playing NHL hockey to a women’s basketball game,” Thomaidis said. 

This season, the women’s NCAA championship has been a lightning rod in the discussion surrounding gender inequality in sports. Several videos that showed the discrepancies between the men’s and women’s weight rooms went viral, as did photos of the different “swag bags” and even food served to players. 

“Angry, disappointed, discouraged…it’s 2021, I don’t think this should be an ongoing issue,” Tonita said. 

Thomaidis also expressed her disappointment in the media coverage surrounding the women’s event. In a tweet, Thomaidis asked why so many photos of female players are unflattering.

“You don’t ever see that when they’re reporting on a men’s game, or reporting on an NBA game,” Thomaidis said.

However, the increased media coverage of the women’s tournament, coupled with more female inclusivity in front of the camera in the NBA, is a slam dunk for women. 

“You really don’t know what‘s possible in the sport and the level that you can be at unless you can see it right before your very eyes,” Thomaidis said.