REGINA, Sask. – The University of Regina's women's basketball team defeated Calgary by a 65-59 score on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport to complete a two-game sweep over the Dinos in this best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series.
The Cougars led by double digits for most of the second half until Calgary scored six consecutive points in the fourth quarter to get to within five with just over three minutes left. The Dinos kept it close and made it a one-possession game on an Emma Nieuwenhuizen three-pointer with a minute to go, but those turned out to be Calgary's final points of the game and Kehlsie Crone sealed the win with five late free throws for the Cougars. "I thought we were pretty solid defensively all weekend, especially rebounding the ball which was critical for us," Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. "We made some shots and free throws down the stretch when we needed to. It was nice to be able to get it done in two games so we can have tomorrow off, as do all the other teams heading into next weekend."
Regina now moves on to the Canada West Final Four to be hosted next weekend by the University of Saskatchewan. The Cougars will face MacEwan in the opening game on Friday, while Alberta and the host Huskies will square off in the other semifinal game.
"MacEwan is a veteran team with very good post players and their starting five is as good as anyone's in Canada West," Taylor said. "They're a well-coached team and a real tough matchup for us."
Sidney Dobner had another fine game for the Cougars, finishing with 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for her first double-double in a U of R uniform. Charlotte Kot added 12 points and eight rebounds, while Christina McCusker and Kehlsie Crone both chipped in with eight points.
Nieuwenhuizen finished with 15 points to lead the Dinos, while Kelsey Lund fell just short of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. It was a slow start offensively on Saturday for both teams, especially the Cougars as they scored just three points in the opening eight minutes while Calgary built up a 10-3 lead. But Regina got it going before the first quarter ended, scoring final seven points of the period including a Katie Polischuk triple as time expired that put them up 12-11 heading into the second.
In the second quarter, a 10-0 run for the Cougars put them into the lead for good. And the second ended just as the first did, with Polischuk hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Cougars into halftime with a 33-21 lead.
The Cougars led by 11 through three quarters, and it was Lund that keyed Calgary's comeback in the fourth with back-to-back buckets that got the Dinos to within five. That forced a Regina timeout, and then two players took over the game – Dobner for the Cougars, and Nieuwenhuizen for Calgary. Dobner hit jumpers on three consecutive possessions, but Nieuwenhuizen responded with 10 of her 15 points in the span of just over a minute in the closing moments of the game. But her last three-pointer that made it 62-59 for Regina with a minute to go was immediately followed by a Crone free throw to make it a two-possession game and after several missed shots by Calgary, Crone hit two more freebies with 16 seconds left to put it away.
NOTES: The Cougars improve their all-time postseason record against Calgary to 7-2 with the win ... Regina is now a perfect 4-0 at home against the Dinos in the playoffs, as they also swept Calgary in two straight games back in the 2004 conference quarterfinals ... the Cougars will face MacEwan next Friday in a meaningful game for the first time in program history.
