Box Score Box Score

The No. 2-seeded and tournament host Regina Cougars outscored the No. 3 Windsor Lancers by 19 points in the opening half and cruised to an 86-68 victory in the second semi-final of the 2009 CIS women's basketball championship, Saturday night, in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 2,378 at the University of Regina.

The Cougars advance to Sunday's national final for the 38th Bronze Baby trophy, where they will face the top-seeded Simon Fraser Clan in a rematch of the February 28 Canada West title match, won 68-57 by SFU. The Score Television Network will broadcast the CIS gold-medal game live at 6 p.m. Central Time (8 p.m. Eastern).

It will mark the third straight final between Canada West squads, and the sixth in the last seven years. Western schools have won the last 17 banners.

Regina, which claimed its lone CIS title with a 94-85 win over Alberta in 2001, hopes to become the first team in history to hoist the Bronze Baby on home court. Winnipeg was the last home team to reach the national final in 2005.

After falling 67-46 to UBC in the 2008 gold-medal match, the Cougars become the first squad to reach back-to-back finals since Victoria played in three straight from 1998 to 2000.

Simon Fraser, which defeated Alberta 78-62 in Saturday's early semi-final, has captured three CIS banners since joining CIS in 2000-01 (2002, 2005, 2007).

Windsor and Alberta will play for bronze Sunday at 3 p.m. Central.

Twenty-four hours after they overcame a 16-point deficit to beat Saskatchewan in their first-ever CIS championship game, the first-time OUA champion Lancers once again fell behind early, trailing 18-9 after the opening quarter and 43-24 at the half, however this time couldn't mount a miracle comeback.

It was all Regina in the first 20 minutes as the local favourites shot an even 50.0 percent from the floor (13-26) compared to 29.6% for their Ontario rivals (8-27), while dominating the boards with a 23-10 advantage in rebounds.

The Cougars led by as much as 20 in the first half after a Meryl Jordan three-point shot made it 42-22 with 1:27 left before the break.

Despite a better third quarter, the visiting Lancers could only cut the deficit by four points and were still trailing by 15 (60-45) after 30 minutes of play.

“We told everyone at the half that they had come back in the second half against Saskatchewan, so we kept that in the back of everyone's minds,” said Regina head coach Dave Taylor. “And the reality is [Windsor] played a much better third quarter and were only able to cut it to four.”

“Regina is a very good team, and unfortunately you can't play only 20 minutes of a 40-minute game against a very good team,” said Windsor coach Chantal Vallee. “It was two games in a row where we started very slow, and against Regina that just can't happen.”

The Cougars prevailed thanks to a diversified offence.

Regina player of the game Jessica Lynch paced the winners with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Carmen Stewart had 13 points and seven boards, Brittany Read 12 points and eight rebounds, and Stacey Walker 11 points.

“We wanted to be aggressive in the first half, our coach told us that if we were aggressive and took the ball to the hoop we would get the calls,” said Lynch, a five-foot-11 forward in her fifth and final season with the Cougars. “It's a credit to our posts who were able to create space for our wings so that we could get to the basket.”

“We have to come out tomorrow night with a lot of energy because (SFU) is a team that starts very fast, so we need to be in game from the opening tip,” Lynch added.

Fourth-year forward Alisa Wulff was named game MVP for Windsor after she led all players on the court with 18 points. Iva Peklova, with 13 points, and Raelyn Prince with 10, also scored in double figures in the loss.

After leading the Lancers' comeback against Saskatchewan on Friday with 21 points, third-year guard Dranadia Roc was held to nine points on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor.