Box Score Box Score

The University of Regina's women's basketball team started out slow but finished strong on Saturday night, recording a 69-55 win over Thompson Rivers in a Canada West game at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The Cougars are No. 4 in the CIS, but for much of the first half it was Thompson Rivers that looked like the ranked team. The WolfPack jumped out to a 26-17 lead after a first quarter in which the WolfPack shot 50% from the field, and also led by five at halftime.

The momentum eventually shifted to the home team's side in the second half. The Cougars went on a 17-2 run that spanned the final minute of the third quarter and the first four minutes of the fourth, opening up a double-digit lead that they held down the stretch to secure the win.

“Once again we showed our inconsistency in our effort,” Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. “We can't continue to give up high point totals in the first quarter, but on the plus side, we showed great defensive intensity in the second half and Lindsay Ledingham had another strong game for us.”

Ledingham led the Cougars in scoring for the second consecutive night, scoring 19 points and adding 10 rebounds for the double-double. Joanna Zalesiak also had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Anne Mercer led all players with 14 boards as the Cougars outrebounded Thompson Rivers by a 58-46 margin.

Kaitlyn Widsten and Diane Schuetze both had 16 points to lead the WolfPack, who drop to 7-9 with the loss. Kailey Colonna had a team-high 11 rebounds for Thompson Rivers, which shot just 4-for-35 (11.4%) from the field in the second half.

The Cougars (12-2) remain tied for first place in the Canada West standings with Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, who were both victorious on Saturday as well. Regina and Winnipeg will butt heads next weekend at the Duckworth Centre on the U of W campus.

Thompson Rivers will head right back to Saskatchewan for a pair of road games against the Huskies next weekend before hosting Calgary in what will be a pivotal home series on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29.