QUEBEC CITY – Fourth-year guard Kourtney Oss poured in a game-high 18 points to go with a career-high 17 rebounds to lead the University of Calgary Dinos women's basketball team to a 58-45 win over McGill Thursday afternoon in a U SPORTS quarterfinal contest from at the Desjardins Amphitheatre on the Laval campus.

A low-scoring game that saw the Dinos go an uncharacteristic 1-11 from three-point range, Calgary turned to its inside game and saw loads of success down the stretch – outscoring the Martlets 23-9 over the final 13 minutes of the game.

"Our defence was the difference maker for us, again," Dinos head coach Sarah Besselink said. "Early on, (McGill's) off-ball movement gave us some issues and in order to simplify that – I had faith that we were able to contain – so we started switching more and it proved to work. 

"Offensively, I thought we attacked their ball-screen defence very well, and that was a difference maker. It opened things up and obviously Kourtney was fantastic today."

Canada West All-Star Pollyanna Storie – playing in her third Final 8 – had another strong performance, finishing with 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks – tying a career high.

"This feels amazing," Storie said. "As a team, we've never (won the opening game at nationals) in the three times we've been here, but also (for the program) it hasn't happened in a long time, so I'm just really proud we can do that after the run from CanWest.

"You can't treat these games differently than in-season. We know what we've been doing well in playoffs, so we just wanted to continue that."

Led by their defence during this championship run, the Dinos once again got off to a strong start, jumping out to an 11-3 lead after the Martlets missed their first 10 shots of the game. 

McGill was able to get some rhythm late in the first and carry that into the second, sparking a 17-2 run to take a 20-13 lead with 4:49 left in the second quarter.

After missing three's on multiple possessions during that big McGill run, the Dinos turned to their inside game and immediately had success, going back ahead 29-27 at halftime.

In the third, McGill pulled to within one at 35-34 with 6:43 left, only to see the Dinos respond with a 12-3 run that spanned 10 minutes for a 47-37 lead.

The Martlets did their best to claw back, but Calgary immediately responded with an 11-2 run to build a 15-point advantage en route to the Final 8 win.

Oss was particularly impactful down the stretch, scoring eight of 18 points in the fourth quarter while finishing with four blocks and two steals as the Dinos continued to shine defensively.

"Honestly, it always just starts with defence for me," Oss said. "My offence was a little slow to start with a few missed short bunnies, so I just focused on rebounding, kicking out to shooters, attacking and always playing with pace and getting stops on defence.

"I've just been feeling more confident (since the semester break). Feeling more confident playing with my teammates and finding my place more on offence instead of just defensively." 

All 18 of Oss' points came close to the hoop, where the Dinos dominated – outscoring McGill 42-22 on points in the paint.

Senior Sydney Milum also used her pick-and-roll game to perfection, finishing with six points on 3-3 shooting. 

One night after being named the U SPORTS Defensive Player of the Year, Amelie Collin tallied six points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Milica Gajic also had a nice night, finishing with eight points and six rebounds.

Emilia Diaz-Ruiz led the way for McGill with 15 points and 14 rebounds. 

Up next, the Dinos now have one day off to prepare for a national semifinal game against UNB. The Reds are the No. 2 seed in this year's tournament and got 31 points and 15 rebounds from Katie Butts in their opener for an 81-63 win over Carleton Thursday morning.

"(UNB) has been playing extremely well," Besselink said. "They shot the ball very well today. They have a very, very good post player. It's going to be a tough matchup, but we'll be ready."

-UC-