Box Score

The University of Regina's women's basketball game held off the Victoria Vikes for a tight 68-66 victory on Saturday night in Game 2 of a best-of-three Canada West quarterfinal series at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The series sweep gives the Cougars the first berth in next weekend's Canada West Final Four. The other three participating teams – and the tournament host – depend on the results of the other three quarterfinal series going on across the conference.

Saturday's game was close throughout. The two teams were tied 13-13 after a low-scoring first quarter and the Cougars took a 30-27 lead into the break after a first half in which the two teams were never separated by more than five points.

The Cougars went on a 6-0 run in the latter portions of the third quarter to build up a 12-point advantage, the largest of the game for either team. But the Vikes responded with an 8-0 run of their own to get the deficit down to four heading into the fourth.

Victoria continued the momentum into the fourth, taking the lead for the first time since the second quarter after a Debbie Yeboah jumper from the paint two minutes into the period. The two teams traded punches down the stretch, with Yeboah hitting a pair of free throws to tie the game back up with a minute remaining. Brittany Read extended the ensuing possession with an offensive rebound off her own miss and then hit a layup that put the Cougars up for good with 27 seconds left.

The Cougars forced a missed shot on the ensuing possession and Victoria had to foul four times before Michelle Clark finally went to the line with seven seconds left. Clark hit both free throws to make it a two-possession game, and all a late Jenny Lewis bucket at the buzzer could do was to bring Victoria to within two.

Read led the Cougars with 16 points, while Danielle Schmidt had 12 points and added 12 rebounds to secure the game's lone double-double. Lindsay Ledingham also broke into double figures with 10 points for Regina and pulled down eight rebounds.

Yeboah was stellar for Victoria, leading all players with 24 points and grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Lewis was 7-for-8 from the field – including a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range – and scored 19 in 22 minutes off the bench for the Vikes.

The Cougars will now prepare for their sixth Canada West Final Four in the last six years.

NOTES: Regina now has a 6-3 all-time record against Victoria in the postseason.