The University of Regina's women's basketball team defeated host New Brunswick by a 68-56 margin on Friday night in a CIS Championship consolation semifinal at the Richard J. Currie Center.

The Cougars led nearly from wire to wire, but it was a tight affair until Regina reeled off a 13-2 second-half run to push what had been just a three-point lead to a commanding 14-point advantage. 

Regina, which had All-Canadian forward Charlotte Kot collect 19 points and nine rebounds in the win, will now prepare for conference foe Alberta in Saturday night's fifth-place game.

"I was very impressed with how we came back emotionally after yesterday's tough loss," Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. "We've had to play (in the consolation semifinal) three times since I've been coach, and tonight was the best we've handled it. It was a fun atmosphere playing against the home team with good energy in the gym, and we were able to have a strong third quarter to help give us a bit of a cushion."

Kot finished just short of a double-double, but Sara Hubenig earned Player of the Game honours for the Cougars with her second solid performance in as many nights off the bench. Hubenig hit a pair of triples and finished with 11 points, while Katie Polischuk hit three three-pointers and scored 15 while adding four assists.

Caroline Healy led UNB with 11 points.

The Varsity Reds got the opening points of the game on a Nicole Lafleur bucket, but that would turn out to be the only lead of the night for UNB. The Cougars responded with an early 9-2 run and they built up a couple of double-digit leads before halftime, but UNB scored the final seven points of the second quarter to get to within 33-30 at the break.

UNB hung around until just past the midway mark of the third quarter, when Healy hit a three-pointer to cut the Regina lead to just three. But Polischuk immediately responded with a three of her own, the first points of that big 13-2 run that saw field goals from five different U of R players including bench contributors Michaela Kleisinger and Britton Belyk.

The Cougars will play Alberta in the fifth-place game on Saturday beginning at 5 p.m. ADT, or 2 p.m. Saskatchewan time.