Box Score

The University of Regina's women's basketball team will play for a Canada West championship after holding off Fraser Valley for an 84-77 victory on Friday night in a conference semifinal game at the Jack Simpson Gym in Calgary.

The victory sets up a confrontation with Canada West Final Four host Calgary on Saturday night in the conference championship with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. MST (canadawest.tv).

Michelle Clark collected a game-high 22 points in the win for the Cougars, while Danielle Schmidt added 19 points and Brittany Read (13 points) and Lindsay Ledingham (12) also hit double figures for the Cougars.

The Cougars jumped out of the gate early, opening up a 16-6 lead with three minutes left in the first quarter after the first of Schmidt's three triples on the night. Regina led by nine after the opening 10 minutes and went on an 8-1 run to start the second quarter, pushing the lead to 16 points.

Fraser Valley responded in a big way before halftime, though. The Cascades scored the next seven points to get back to within single digits and ended the second quarter on a 10-0 run, tying the game at 40-40 heading into the break as the Cougars went scoreless over the final three minutes of the half.

The Cascades took their first lead since the opening minutes of the game after a free throw by Sarah Wierks gave them a one-point advantage after halftime, but Schmidt's second three-pointer put the Cougars back into the lead for good. Seven straight points late in the quarter gave the U of R an eight-point lead, and the Cougars led by three possessions for most of the stretch run in the fourth.

The game looked to be well in hand for the Cougars after a pair of Ledingham free throws gave the Cougars an 11-point lead with 40 seconds left, but Fraser Valley got a three-pointer from Courtney Bartel to pull to within eight, and a layup and a pair of free throws by Sarah Wierks got the Cascades to within four with 15 seconds left. The Cougars finally iced the game with a pair of Kehlsie Crone free throws late in the contest.

Sarah Wierks led Fraser Valley with 17 points and dominated on the glass, leading all players with 16 rebounds. Kayli Sartori had 16 points, while Nicole Wierks scored 15 and Bartel came off the bench to score 13.

Fraser Valley will meet Alberta on Friday night in the Canada West bronze medal game prior to the conference championship match. The winner of that game will receive an automatic berth to the 2013 CIS Championship in Regina.

NOTES: Ledingham was 10-for-10 from the free throw line, joining Read and Jana Schweitzer as the only University of Regina players to hit at least 10 free throws in a game without a miss since the Cougars joined Canada West prior to the 2001-02 season.