The University of Regina's women's basketball team closed out its conference schedule with an 80-73 road loss to Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon, solidifying their sixth-place finish in the Pioneer Division.

The Cougars (12-8) will now prepare for a best-of-three Canada West play-in series at Fraser Valley next weekend. The winner of that series will advance to the conference quarterfinals against the first-place team in the Pioneer Division, which will likely be UBC.

Saturday's game saw the Cougars dig themselves a 12-point hole with three minutes to go in the third, but the visitors rallied. The U of R scored the next 13 points to take its first lead of the game two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Winnipeg stopped the run and took the lead back with a Samantha Donald triple on the next possession and the Cougars never led again.

Donald finished with a game-high 22 points for Winnipeg, which finishes the year with a 14-6 conference record and in either fourth place or fifth place in the division depending on how Victoria does against Trinity Western later on Saturday night. Megan Noonan added 20 for the Wesmen, with both Donald and Noonan finishing with four three-pointers in the win.

Charlotte Kot was 8-for-9 from the field for the Cougars and finished with 18 points, while Kajati had 16 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Katie Polischuk and Caitlin Zacharias both broke into double figures with 10 points apiece.

The Regina/Fraser Valley series will start with Game 1 next Friday night with a 6 p.m. (PST) tip at the Envision Athletic Centre on the UFV campus. Game 2 will follow on Saturday at the same time, with Game 3 - if it's needed - scheduled for a 2 p.m. (PST) start on Sunday. 

NOTES: Next weekend will mark the first time that Regina and Fraser Valley have ever met in a best-of-three series, though it'll be the third time in the last four years the two teams have played each other in the postseason … the Cougars defeated Fraser Valley in Canada West semifinal games in both 2012 and 2013 … Regina has a 7-2 all-time record over UFV in Canada West games and a 2-0 record against the Cascades in the postseason … the two teams met earlier this season in a non-conference game, with the Cougars winning 76-50 in a game played in Regina back on Oct. 10.