But for a twist of fate or two, Sarah Guignard and Savvy Swords would be teammates this upcoming year, preparing to lead the Lo-Ellen Prep Knights into battle against some of the best high-school female basketball teams in the province.
Though circumstances would scatter them miles and miles apart, the pair were both in Sudbury on Tuesday, accommodating yours truly for well-deserved interviews based on some very cool basketball happenings in their lives.
A 17 year-old graduate of Valley View Public School and key member of the Prep Knights 2024-2025 crew, Guignard has just returned from St John’s (Newfoundland), host city to the 2025 Canada Summer Games.
A member of the Ontario women’s basketball team, the multi-sport talent (Guignard shared the senior girls aggregate title at the city track & field championships: 100m hurdles, high jump, javelin) is now a Summer Games silver medallist, she and her teammates unable to solve the Alberta juggernaut this year.
Swords has endured a more quiet summer, the result of a torn ACL last December – though this did not stop her from following in her sister’s footsteps and committing to a top-end NCAA Division I program for 2026-2027. With Syla (Swords) coming off an incredible freshman season with the Michigan Wolverines, Savvy opted to move down to the SEC, connecting with the Kentucky Wildcats.
Ironically, Guignard and Swords only played one year together, both members of a Sudbury Jam team back when they were in grade eight. This was also the first major leap into competitive basketball for Guignard, who also listed hockey as a primary pursuit in her youth.
“Basketball is just something that incorporates a lot of the things that I like to do,” she said. “And it’s warm; hockey is cold.”
Suiting up with the Lo-Ellen Park senior girls team as an incoming grade nine rookie, Guignard noted that her fit with the game went well beyond the initial height advantage she enjoyed in starting high-school (she was almost six feet tall in grade nine and now stands 6’2”).
“In grade nine, I was set at five (centre),” she said. “Set up in the post; rebound and score. That was my thing. I couldn’t dribble; I couldn’t really shoot. Jenn (coach Jennifer Bourget) has really allowed me to broaden myself. I’m able to play the perimeter now, which is really cool.”
“I’m able to do so many more things.”
Acknowledging a clear penchant towards changing things up with regularity – part of the attraction of busing in from the Valley to enroll with the I.B. program at LEP – Guignard has always accepted that with every change comes the need to gradually adapt to said change.
“There were practices (in grade nine) when I couldn’t get anything right,” she said. “But I just had that “next play” mentality, almost. Tomorrow is going to be better – even when I am in practice. That really helps me.”
Joining LEP Prep in grade ten, Guignard spent last summer with the Kia Nurse program before opting to tryout for Team Ontario this summer. “I had to really show that I could rebound, that I could defend,” she said. “My scoring comes after that.”
Her rebounding prowess is particularly interesting. For as much as the local teen has better than average height, she remains a long way still from filling in that frame. Outmuscling opponents for the ball would not be her bread and butter.
“To be a great rebounder, you just have to know where the ball is going to go,” Guignard stated.
“If you see it in the air and can tell that it’s going to hit front rim, I know that the rebound is going there and I can be there before my opponent. If I know where’s it’s going to go and they don’t, then they are just jumping aimlessly and I am already there.”
Where Sarah Guignard is still undecided as to her post-secondary destination of choice – “it would be awesome to go D1, but if a better opportunity arises in Canada, I will stay in Canada” – Savvy Swords took her name off the board back in June.
Good thing as the speculation regarding the national stream talent who ranked 18th on the EPSN Sports Centre Top 100 for 2026 would have only increased over time.The decision also helped put Swords’ mind at ease, even if the post-surgery knee injury recovery has gone completely according to plan.
“Recruiting-wise, things didn’t change at all,” noted the 17 year-old who attended R.L. Beattie before moving to Long Island (NY), along with the family, three years ago when her father (Shawn) accepted a coaching gig in the New Jersey Nets system.
(a long-time head coach at Laurentian University, Shawn Swords was announced earlier this month as one nine assistant coaches who will assist the Canadian national men’s team in their preparation leading into the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles)
“Honestly, they were maybe even pushing even more for me (after the surgery),” added Savvy. “They all showed so much support, checking in on me, messaging me on the day of my surgery.”
Part of the LuHi Crusaders girls high-school team that claimed the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions in 2023, Swords was already on the radar before the 6’2” forward vaulted her way to a whole other level, early in the 2024-2025 season.
“I just have a lot more confidence,” said Savvy. “My first two years at LuHi, I was playing behind Syla and Kayleigh (Heckel - USC Trojans) and Kate (Koval - Notre Dame Fighting Irish). I was more of a gritty player, doing whatever the team needed.”
“This past year, as a junior, I knew the ropes.”
And for as much as the chance to play with Syla at Michigan featured a great deal of allure, it was Kentucky head coach Kenny Brooks who made all the difference in the world. “I just feel that he cares so much about his players, taking the time to do so much individual workouts,” said Swords.
“The development of his players is incredible. I wanted to be part of that. I just felt like I had a great connection with him.”
And with both Savvy and Syla very much on target to star for Team Canada for years to come, it’s not like folks will keep them apart forever.
“I went to all of the national team training camps (this summer) so that they could help me with my knee, keeping me involved,” noted little (taller) sister. “There’s going to be opportunities to play together again.”
Currently, there are more pressing matters at hand.
"I am just kind of laser-focused with getting back on the court, really zoned in on rehab and the next steps in that process," said Swords. With eeac checkmark along the way, the incoming recruit who plans to study Business is feeling that much closer to the player she was this time last year - if not a little better.
"There are some exercises - side shuffling, jumping - were you are a bit hesitant," Swords suggested. "But then you start to figure out that you can trust your knees - and as you build strength, even more."
"Both legs are equally as strong now, which made me feel good."
By the time that games roll around in mid-November, Savvy Swords will be ready to go - and like all the local talent, we will be sure to continue to track her progress.
