Cougars win Canada West with victory over Huskies

The University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team is celebrating first place in Canada West.

The Cougars clinched top spot Friday by defeating the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 74-59 in Saskatoon. Kyanna Giles led the Cougars with 22 points and added six rebounds.

“We’ve been pretty good on Friday nights,” Cougars head coach Dave Taylor noted. “We emphasize that a lot. That has been a mantra in our program: Try to win Friday night on the road and play with house money on Saturday.”

On Saturday — in a game that did not have any bearing on the standings — Cougars head coach Dave Taylor rested starters Charlotte Kot, Kyanna Giles, Kyia Giles and Christina McCusker.

“I said all year that I thought we probably had the best bench in the country, so this was a chance to prove it,” Taylor said.

The Huskies won 87-82 on Saturday to improve their record to 17-3 and snap the Cougars’ 13game winning streak. Regina, which got 23 points from Carolina Goncalves, finished at 18-2.

“If we keep winning in the playoffs, we never leave Regina,” Taylor said. “That’s incredibly helpful.”

The Cougars are to open the playoffs Feb. 15 when a best-ofthree quarter-final begins at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport. The U of R will meet the winner of Friday ’s play-in game between the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and the host UBC Thunderbirds.

Taylor’s team will also play host to the U Sports championship tournament, March 8-11.

In men’s basketball, the Cougars will meet the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in a play-in game on Thursday, 7 p.m., at the CKHS. Both teams finished at 11-9.