Meet the Giles sisters, part of a family basketball dynasty

Varsity alum Keneca and Kyia Giles excelled on championship teams

By Jessica Leach | July 13, 2022

Alumni sisters Keneca Giles (pictured) and Kyia Giles played for Toronto Metropolitan University’s basketball team, both achieving remarkable success. Photograph by UNB Athletics

Kyia and Keneca Giles are household names around the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

The Winnipeg sisters played for the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) women’s basketball team and were part of the university’s most successful teams. Keneca’s team won the OUA championship and national silver medal in 2016, and Kyia was on the undefeated 2022 U SPORTS national championship team.

Keneca (master’s in Public Policy and Admin ’16) played five seasons with the Rams and made outstanding appearances at nationals in both her fourth and fifth seasons. She had a stellar final season, winning the OUA championship, a silver medal at the national championship and was named Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) player of the year in women’s basketball.

Kyia getting ready to shoot the basketball

Kyia (Politics and Governance ’21 and Certificate, Public Administration and Leadership ’22) followed in her sister’s footsteps, joining the team in 2019 after playing basketball for three years with the University of Regina. After being sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kyia and the team went undefeated during the 2022 season. They won the OUA title and gold at the national championships this year in Kingston, Ont.

Few people may know that the Giles family has a third sister, Kyia’s twin sister Kyanna, who plays varsity basketball for the University of Winnipeg, the other finalist at the national championships.

On April 3, 2022, for the first time ever, Kyia faced off against her sister Kyanna for the championship title, while Keneca cheered both sisters on in the championship game.