Playing its first home games in over two months, the University of Regina's women's basketball team returns to the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport this weekend to host Fraser Valley on Friday night and Trinity Western on Saturday.

Still ranked No. 1 in the CIS, the Cougars have reeled off 11 consecutive wins to start the Canada West schedule and can rewrite the U of R record book on Friday night, as the Cougars have started off 11-0 on two previous occasions (2001-02 and 2003-04) but have never before won 12 straight to start a season.

The Cougars are coming off a pair of road wins over Manitoba, as they exploded late for an 84-60 win on Friday and dominated from start to finish with a 105-52 win over the Bisons on Saturday. Regina enters the weekend 2½ games up on Alberta (9-3) for first place in Canada West's Prairie Division and 2½ games ahead of UBC (8-2) for the best record in the conference.

Head coach Dave Taylor has gone with the same starting five – Michelle Clark, Lindsay Ledingham, Brittany Read, Danielle Schmidt, and Joanna Zalesiak – for all 11 conference games this year. Clark leads the way with an average of 14.6 points per game, while Zalesiak averages 13 points per contest and ranks second in the conference with 5.6 assists per game. Ledingham also averages double figures in scoring (11.7 points per game) and has pulled down a team-leading 96 rebounds.

Carly Graham hasn't started a game for the Cougars this year but essentially receives starting minutes, as the fifth-year guard averages 9.2 points per game, shoots 44.1% from three-point land, and is fourth on the team with 23.5 minutes played per contest.

After a tough opening weekend which saw No. 10-ranked Fraser Valley lose twice to Thompson Rivers, the Cascades have gone on a tear. They've won seven of eight Canada West games since, including a tough road victory over Alberta back on Nov. 26. Four Cascades enter the weekend averaging double figures in scoring, including Tessa Klassen (14.5 points per game), Aieisha Luyken (11.7), Nicole Wierks (11.6), and Sarah Wierks (10.5). Fraser Valley (9-3) is in second place in the Pacific Division, just one game back of UBC.

Trinity Western (6-6) comes into the weekend in third place in the Pacific Division and will meet Brandon on Friday night before playing the Cougars on Saturday. Holly Strom leads the Spartans with an average of 12.2 points per game and is also the team's leader with 59 rebounds, 30 of which have come on the offensive glass.

Tip-off is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday night at the CKHS.

NOTES: Both games will be webcast live at www.canadawest.tv ... the Cougars have a 4-2 all-time record against Fraser Valley and a 14-2 record against Trinity Western.