Huskies try to measure up against Cougars

Cougars 83, Huskies 72

Something had to give.

The University of Saskatchewan women’s basketball team was riding a 10-game winning streak and had won 23 straight games on home court over the last two seasons.

Their provincial rival University of Regina Cougars came into the game after winning 22 games in a row, 19 straight in Canada West conference play.

For the U of S Huskies, this was one last measuring stick before the start of playoffs. For the most part, they measured up against the No. 1-ranked Cougars — trailing by just two points, 40-38, at the half — but Regina rallied in the third to pull away for a 83-72 win over No. 3-ranked Saskatchewan on Saturday night at the PAC.

The Huskies, who finished the regular season with a 15-5 record and 23-6 overall, move on to play host to the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack (9-9) in Canada West quarter-final action. That bestof-three series runs Friday, Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday night at the PAC. Game-time is 6:15 p.m.

The two teams met just once this season with the Huskies coming out on top 70-62 at the PAC back on Jan. 21. Katie Miyazaki led the U of S with 20 points in that game, while rookie Dalyce Emmerson recorded a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Diane Schuetze was a one-woman wrecking crew with a game-high 31 points and six rebounds for Thompson Rivers.

On Saturday, Kiera Lyons led the Huskies with 18 points, followed by Miyazaki with 14. Emmerson collected her 12th double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Lindsay Ledingham was one of four Cougars to reach double-digits, recording a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the game. Michelle Clark tallied a game-high 18 points, followed by Joanna Zalesiak with 15 and Danielle Schmidt with 10.

Regina out-scored Saskatchewan 23-14 in the third quarter and that was the difference.

The experienced Cougars, who feature a pair of imports with NCAA experience in Clark from California (Purdue University) and Zalesiak from Poland (University of Texas-el Paso), finished the regular season at 20-0 to record their first undefeated conference season in program history.

The Cougars finished the game shooting 48 per cent, while the Huskies shot at 35 per cent. Saskatchewan narrowly out-rebounded the Cougars at 39-38.