Box Score Box Score

The University of Regina's women's basketball team advanced to the Canada West Final Four with a 70-67 victory over the Victoria Vikes on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The victory gives the Cougars a two-game sweep over Victoria in their best-of-three conference quarterfinal series, as Regina won Game 1 by a 66-55 score on Friday night.

The first game of the series was marred by turnovers, as the two teams combined to give the ball away 55 times on Friday. It was a completely different story on Saturday, as the Cougars and Vikes played a fast-paced, quality basketball game that saw the lead change a total of 21 times.

Neither team led by double digits at any point during Saturday's game. The largest lead of the contest was a nine-point advantage built up by Victoria midway through the third quarter, but 11 consecutive points by the Cougars erased that in a hurry.

The two teams traded leads down the stretch in the fourth quarter, as nine of the game's lead changes happened in the final frame. Two free throws by Victoria's Carmen Lapthorne tied the game at 67 with 1:13 left. On the ensuing possession, Regina third-year guard Joanna Zalesiak was fouled by Jane Anholt, who suffered an injury on the play and missed the rest of the contest.

Zalesiak missed both free throws, but the Cougars came up with a defensive stop and Zalesiak made amends with a layup off the window to give the home side a 69-67 lead. The Cougars made another defensive stop thanks to a block by Megan Chamberlin, forcing Victoria to foul Carly Graham with 11 seconds left.

Graham hit one of her two free throws to give the Cougars a three-point lead. That set up a final possession for Victoria, but a desperation heave at the buzzer from well beyond the three-point line was no good.

“We had a much better effort tonight, which was much needed because Victoria was also better,” Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. “Joanna (Zalesiak) played like an All-Canadian in the second half and we made two key defensive stops late when we needed them.”

Zalesiak ended up with a game-high 24 points for the Cougars, while Lindsay Ledingham scored 15. Chamberlin scored eight and added a team-high eight rebounds.

Yeboah was 10-for-17 from the field and scored 22 points for Victoria. Anholt had 14 points and led all players with five steals, while Carmen Lapthorne scored 12 and Sarah Semeniuk had 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds to secure the game's lone double-double. Semeniuk added five blocks for the Vikes.

The Cougars will meet Alberta in a conference semifinal game next weekend at the Canada West Final Four in Saskatoon, while host Saskatchewan will square off with No. 7-seeded Fraser Valley.

Victoria will still have a chance to advance to the CIS Regionals even with the loss, as one of the 12 slots at the regionals will be given to the recipient of an at-large berth.

NOTES: Regina and Victoria have now played six times in the postseason, with each team winning three games in the series … the Cougars advance to the Canada West Final Four for the fourth consecutive season.