Cougars ready for tough challenges

The regular season has reached a pivotal point in Canada West women’s basketball — as University of Regina Cougars head coach Dave Taylor can attest.

“This weekend and the following weekend are the two most important,” said Taylor, looking ahead to two-game series with the visiting University of Winnipeg Wesmen and the host University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

“We’ve got to win three of the four games if we want to get first place.”

The Cougars lead the conference with a 15-1 record. The Huskies, who oppose the U of R on Feb. 2 and 3 in Saskatoon, are 14-2 with two weeks remaining in the regular season.

Three teams, including the Wesmen, are 12-4 and tied for third place. Winnipeg is to oppose the Cougars on Friday and Saturday at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport. Both games are at 6 p.m., followed by Regina-Winnipeg men’s matches at 8 o’clock.

Winnipeg’s women’s team, like that of Regina, enters this weekend’s set on a 10-game winning streak.

“That tells me that this is probably a little bigger weekend than most — that and the fact that they have the leading scorer in the country,” Taylor said.

The Wesmen are led by Antoinette Miller, who was named Canada West’s most valuable player and defensive player of the year last season. She is averaging 26.3 points per game.

“We’re excited about this weekend because it’s a good test for us,” Taylor said. “This will tell us a lot about our team going into the playoffs.”

Regina is expected to be without one of its starters, Christina McCusker, this weekend due to a foot injury. She will likely return for the series in Saskatoon.

The Cougars are the host team for the U Sports championship (March 8-11, CKHS).