The University of Regina's women's basketball team plays its first Canada West games since early December this weekend, as the Cougars will host the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Friday and Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The Cougars enter the weekend ranked No. 4 in the CIS and in a three-way knot for second place in the Canada West standings with a 10-2 record. The WolfPack, likely the conference's most improved team, come into the series with a 7-7 record.

“Thompson (Rivers) relies heavily on the three-point attack,” Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. “If we allow them to shoot uncontested threes – especially in transition – we're going to be in trouble. We have to put up a consistent effort for the whole weekend, as that's been our Achilles heel this year.”

The Cougars won two of their three non-conference games over the break, defeating McMaster and Medicine Hat College and losing to No. 1-ranked Saskatchewan. The U of R's only two conference losses have come during weekend splits with Victoria and Alberta.

Leading the way for the Cougars is third-year point guard Joanna Zalesiak, who ranks second in Canada West behind injured Victoria post Kayla Dykstra with an average of 16.4 points per game. Zalesiak also ranks second in the conference with 53 assists through the team's first 12 games.

Lindsay Ledingham (11.4 ppg) and Gabrielle Gheyssen (10.1) also average in double figures in scoring, while Anne Mercer leads the Cougars with an average of nine rebounds per contest. Danielle Schmidt, who has started six games this season and averages just under 21 minutes played per game, is expected to be the fifth starter with sharpshooter Carly Graham and forward Megan Chamberlin available off the bench.

Thompson Rivers entered its sixth Canada West season having never won more than three conference games in a season, but the WolfPack have exploded for seven victories just past the halfway mark of this year. Thompson Rivers leads the conference in three-point attempts, as almost every player on the WolfPack roster – including 6'3” post Diane Schuetze – is a threat to throw one up from beyond the arc.

Third-year guard Jen Ju has hit 24 of her 67 three-pointers this season for a team-leading .358 percentage, while fourth-year guard Kaitlyn Widsten is 21-for-69 from beyond the arc. Kayla Forsyth and Lindsay Dekoff are also shooting over 30% from three-point land this season for Thompson Rivers, which is led in scoring by Schuetze's 12.4 points per game.

The Cougars hold a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series, with their only setback coming in a 58-52 loss back on Nov. 19, 2005 in the first game played between the two teams. The Cougars were victorious in their only game against Thompson Rivers last year, taking a 76-62 win on Nov. 28, 2009.

Video webcast and live statistics will be available for all four basketball games this weekend at www.reginacougars.com.

NOTES: Following this weekend, the Cougars will return to the court on Jan. 21 and Jan. 22 at Winnipeg.