University of Regina Women's Basketball Postseason Guide

Regional Format
The Cougars will meet Victoria in a regional semifinal matchup on Friday (6:15 p.m.), with UQAM and Wilfrid Laurier to meet in the other semifinal immediately following at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport. The winners will play on Saturday night (7:00 p.m.) for an automatic berth to the Final Eight in Windsor next weekend.

University of Regina Cougars (19-5 Canada West / 3-1 postseason)
The Cougars earned the right to host the CIS West Regional at last weekend's Canada West Final Four, where they defeated Alberta in the semifinals before falling 77-74 to Saskatchewan in the conference championship game.

Expect the Cougars to roll with the same three-guard, two-post rotation they've used since losing leading rebounder Anne Mercer to a broken wrist back in February.

That includes Joanna Zalesiak, Gabrielle Gheyssen, and Danielle Schmidt starting at guard for the U of R. Zalesiak has followed up a fine first season with the Cougars with a stellar second campaign, being named a Canada West first-team all-star after finishing second in the conference in both points per game and assists.

Gheyssen is always a threat from the perimeter and was strong last weekend in Saskatoon, scoring 32 points and going 8-for-13 from the land beyond in the team's two games. Schmidt has started every game and averaged nine points per contest since the second half of the schedule started.

At post, the Cougars rely heavily on starters Lindsay Ledingham and Megan Chamberlin. Ledingham was named a Canada West second-team all-star and averages 14.3 points per game including the team's two postseason games, while Chamberlin played in excess of 30 minutes during both of the U of R's quarterfinal games against Victoria.

Receiving big minutes off the bench is guard Carly Graham, in her fourth season of eligibility but her first as a Cougar after transferring from Simon Fraser. Graham set a school record with 52 three-pointers hit during the conference schedule.

Post Vanessa Wesolowski has an impressive .778 field goal percentage and averages nine minutes played per game through the first four games of the playoffs. Rookie posts Jennilea Coppola and Kayla Hannah have also been used off the bench along with second-year guard Rayna Belyk and rookie Taylor Pelletier.

Victoria Vikes (15-9 Canada West / 0-2 postseason)
The U of R and Victoria are obviously no strangers. The two teams met just two weekends ago in the conference quarterfinals, with the Cougars coming away with two close wins to advance to the Canada West Final Four. The Cougars and Vikes also split a pair of conference games in Victoria back in November.

Victoria, which finished sixth in the Canada West standings with a 15-9 conference record, was awarded the at-large berth to the CIS West Regional through a vote held by a committee of CIS coaches.

Key players: G Debbie Yeboah (Canada West second-team all-star, 13.3 ppg), G Carmen Lapthorne (10.1 ppg).
Regina vs. Victoria (conference): 10-8
Regina vs. Victoria (postseason): 3-3

UQAM Citadins (10-6 RSEQ / 1-1 postseason)
UQAM finished in second place in the RSEQ standings with a 10-6 record. The Citadins defeated Concordia in the conference semifinals, then lost 75-62 to Laval last weekend in the RSEQ championship game.

The Cougars and UQAM have never met in the postseason. The two teams played a non-conference game last season, with the Cougars winning 83-75 in a game held in Calgary back in October of 2009.

Key players: G Michelle Auger-Bellemare (RSEQ first-team all-star, 13.8 ppg), P Emie Simard (11.8 ppg).
Regina vs. UQAM (postseason): 0-0

Laurier Golden Hawks (15-7 OUA / 2-2 postseason)
Wilfrid Laurier finished in third place in the OUA's West Division this season, then recorded back-to-back wins over Guelph and Western Ontario to advance to the conference semifinals. They were beaten there by eventual OUA champion Windsor, then lost in the third-place game to Toronto to become the conference's No. 4 seed.

Regina and Wilfrid Laurier met in a quarterfinal matchup at the 2004 CIS Championship in Winnipeg. The Cougars won that game by a 68-52 score, but the two teams haven't played each other since then.

Key players: G Renata Adamczyk (13.0 ppg), P Christa Mancino (8.4 ppg).
Regina vs. Wilfrid Laurier (postseason): 1-0