Alyssia Kajati had 24 points and 17 rebounds, but the No. 3-ranked University of Regina's women's basketball team suffered just its second Canada West loss of the season on Thursday night after a 95-83 overtime loss at Calgary.
The Cougars would have clinched home court in the conference quarterfinals with a win, but instead fourth-place Calgary (14-4) draws one win closer to Regina in the Pioneer Division standings. Calgary's win sets up a critical Friday night matchup between the two teams, as a Dinos weekend sweep would move them past the Cougars into third place in the division.
Thursday's game saw the Cougars hold a massive 56-37 rebounding advantage, but they turned the ball over 23 times compared to Calgary's 12 - and that resulted in a 32-10 edge in points off turnovers for the Dinos.
Kelsey Lund had 25 points and eight rebounds for Calgary, while Kristie Sheils had 18 points including a basket in the closing seconds of regulation that sent it to overtime. Four other Dinos scored in double figures, including Brianna Ghali (12 points), Emma Nieuwenhuizen (11), Claire Colborne (11), and Anmol Mattu (10).
Kajati's massive double-double included a career high in rebounds (17), while her total of 24 points was just one short of her career high of 25 set last year at Trinity Western.
Charlotte Kot added 14 points, while
Katie Polischuk scored 12,
Sidney Dobner had 11, and
Christina McCusker collected nine points and seven rebounds off the bench.
The teams traded leads four times in the first quarter, but Calgary went on a 14-0 run that started late in the first and continued as the Cougars didn't score their first points of the second until past the midpoint of the quarter. But Regina replied with a run that was almost equally impressive, finishing off the half on a 16-3 surge and then scoring the first seven points of the third quarter to take their first lead since the first.
The wild fourth quarter saw the teams trade the lead four times, and both Calgary and Regina had chances to win it in the game's final seconds. Sheils was fouled while completing her layup with seven seconds left that tied the game at 71-71, but missed the ensuing free throw. That gave the Cougars a chance to put away the road win, but Dobner's attempt from three at the buzzer was no good and the teams went to the extra session.
Overtime was all Calgary, though. The Dinos led the entire way, and pulled away with six consecutive points that gave them a nine-point lead with a minute to go.
The teams play again on Friday night at the Jack Simpson Gym on the University of Calgary campus (6:00 MST).
