Box Score

The University of Regina's women's basketball team blew the game wide open in the third quarter and coasted to a 90-57 win over Calgary on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

The Cougars led by just nine at the half, but opened the third quarter on a 16-4 run and never looked back. The U of R outscored the Dinos by a 23-9 margin in the third and 23-13 in the fourth to pull away from Calgary for a 33-point win.

The three-way tie for first in the Prairie Division is down to two teams, as Saskatchewan lost to Winnipeg on Friday to fall to 16-3 on the season. The Cougars and Alberta – which topped Manitoba on the road – are now tied for the division lead with a 17-2 mark.

Nicole Clarke, Alyssia Kajati, and Charlotte Kot all scored 14 points for the Cougars to tie for the game high. Katie Polischuk was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range and scored 13, while Janine Guijt added 10 points to score in double figures for the seventh time in nine games as a Cougar. Kajati added a game-high 10 rebounds for her second consecutive double-double and her third of the season.

Tamara Jarrett led Calgary (11-8) with 13 points, while Ashley Hirons added 11.

Though the teams were close in rebounding with the U of R holding a slim 43-42 advantage on the boards, it was hot shooting by the Cougars that proved to be the difference. The Cougars were 30-for-61 (49.2%) from the field compared to 22-for-74 (29.7%) for Calgary, and the difference was even more pronounced from three-point land where the U of R was 8-for-13 compared to the Dinos' 3-for-22.

The two teams will meet again at the CKHS on Saturday night with tip-off scheduled for 5 p.m.

NOTES: Friday's win marked the first game back for Cougars head coach Dave Taylor after a four-game absence due to an illness ... the Cougars improve their record to 19-7 against Calgary in 26 conference meetings between the two teams.