The
University of Regina’s women’s basketball team earned an automatic
berth to next weekend’s U SPORTS Championship and will play for a Canada
West title after an 81-70 win over Winnipeg on Friday night in a Canada
West semifinal game at the Physical Activity Centre on the University
of Saskatchewan campus.
Christina McCusker had a huge game for the Cougars, scoring a
career-high 22 points to lead the U of R while Avery Pearce added 13
points and Kyanna Giles scored 11.
“We had a lot of different people step up and make shots tonight,”
Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. “You’ll hear this quote a lot from
me at this point of the season – it wasn’t always pretty, but a win is a
win in the postseason and I’m absolutely thrilled with this team for
making it back to nationals.”
The
Cougars will square off with Canada West Final Four host Saskatchewan
on Saturday night (7:00) as the two provincial rivals meet in the
conference championship game for the second time. Regina and the U
of S also played for a Canada West title in both 2011 and 2016 in
Saskatoon, with the Huskies winning both of those contests.
McCusker was 8-for-14 from the field also had six rebounds for the
Cougars. Her previous career high was 20 points, set a month ago against
this same Winnipeg team. Most of Pearce’s 13 points came on her three
first-half triples, while Kyanna Giles fell just short of a
double-double with nine rebounds. Kyanna’s twin sister Kyia Giles was
brilliant off the bench for the Cougars, collecting eight points, nine
rebounds, and a game-high four assists in 21 minutes played.
After a tight first quarter which saw the game tied at 19, the second quarter was all Cougars. They scored the first nine
points of the period and 16 of the first 20, and ended up taking a 51-36
lead into halftime after outscoring Winnipeg by a 32-17 margin during
the second. Regina caught fire in that quarter, shooting over 63% from
the field and getting a pair of three-pointers from Pearce – her second
and third of the game – and one triple apiece from Katie Polischuk, Sara
Hubenig, and Michaela Kleisinger.
The Cougars took their largest lead of the game at 58-39 four
minutes into the third, but Winnipeg – which was an impressive 18-2 in
Canada West play this season – had a response. The Wesmen ended the
third on a 14-4 run to get within six points after three quarters, but
that was as close as they’d get. Regina opened the fourth quarter with
six straight points, including a huge transition three by Polischuk to
put the Cougars up 73-61 two minutes in. Regina held Winnipeg to just
nine points in the final period to seal the win and clinch the program’s
eighth appearance in the conference championship in the last 10 years.
1 comment:
GO COUGARS!
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