CALGARY – Despite showing signs of a comeback early in the third quarter, the Calgary Dinos couldn't keep up with the second-ranked Regina Cougars Saturday night, falling 87-63 in the Jack Simpson Gym.

BOX SCORE

Trailing by eight at halftime, Calgary scored the first seven points of the third quarter but then gave up an 18-2 run as the high-powered Cougars took control to cruise to the 24-point victory.

“I thought we played very well for two-thirds of the game, and when we got close in the third quarter I thought we were going to have a game on our hands,” said Shawnee Harle, 16th-year head coach of the Dinos. “However, Regina shut the door on the defensive end and shot very well, and we just couldn't answer.

“We did some really positive things at both ends,” she went on. “We got them in serious foul trouble, caused some turnovers, and got to the free throw line, but we never got any sustained momentum.”

The Cougars shot better than 52 per cent from beyond the arc, with Joanna Zalesiak connecting on all three of her trey attempts. She finished with 20 points, three back of Lindsay Ledingham's game-high 23 points.

Gabrielle Gheyssen and Brittany Read were the other Regina players to crack double digits in scoring with 10 each. Read played just 11 minutes but was key to the Cougars opening up an early lead, scoring eight points and hauling in seven rebounds in the first quarter alone.

Megan Lang was Calgary's leading scorer with 12 points, while Megan Schaufele and Tamara Jarrett added 10 each. Leading scorer Ashley Hill finished with seven to wrap up a tough weekend, scoring just nine points over the two-game series.

The Cougars (14-2) inched closer to claiming first place in the Prairie Division with four games remaining on the schedule, two each against the Winnipeg Wesmen and the Saskatchewan Huskies. Calgary, meanwhile, falls to 7-10 on the season and hits the road for their final three games of the year as they battle with the Lethbridge Pronghorns for the wild card seed in the Canada West playoffs. The Dinos head to Brandon next weekend to take on the 2-16 Bobcats before closing the season Feb. 13 at Lethbridge in a game that could decide which team makes the playoffs.

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