One night after administering a thorough drubbing of Manitoba, the University of Regina's women's basketball team survived an upset bid by the Bisons and ended up with a close 72-69 win on Saturday night at the Investors Group Athletic Centre in Winnipeg.
 
The game started out much like Friday's game, which the Cougars won by a lopsided score of 85-48. The visitors took it to Manitoba in the opening period, jumping out to a 16-4 lead and holding a 27-14 advantage after the first quarter.
 
But back-to-back three-pointers by Emma Thompson early in the second quarter for Manitoba set the tone for what was to come. The Bisons cut the deficit to six points before a Kyanna Giles layup gave Regina a 39-31 halftime lead. In the third quarter Manitoba went on an 11-2 run that gave the Bisons their first lead of the game, though the Cougars scored the final six points of the period to take a four-point lead into the fourth.
 
A layup by Thompson brought Manitoba level at 61-61 with six minutes to go, but the Cougars clamped down on the defensive side of the ball and the Bisons didn't score for the next four minutes. During that time, the Cougars scored nine points – including a big three-point play by second-year guard Kyia Giles – to go up 71-60 with two and a half minutes to go.
 
Manitoba made it a one-possession game after an Emma Thompson bucket with seconds remaining brought the Bisons to within three, but the Cougars were able to hang on to complete the weekend sweep.
 
Kyanna Giles and Kyia Giles (pictured) both finished with 13 points to tie for the team high for the Cougars, with Kyanna adding eight rebounds and four assists in the victory. Charlotte Kot and Christina McCusker both had 10 points, while Sara Hubenig scored nine and Avery Pearce ended up with eight. Kot tied for the game high with nine rebounds to fall just short of a double-double, while Hubenig matched Kyanna with eight rebounds and four assists.
 
The Cougars, who improve to 2-0 with the win, were playing their first of what will be three games without the services of guard Carolina Goncalves. Goncalves flew out from Winnipeg earlier on Saturday to join Portugal's senior national team in Lisbon in advance of games against Greece and Israel as part of qualification for the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2019 tournament.
 
Regina will now get ready to host its home openers next Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11 against the University of the Fraser Valley at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport. The Cascades will come into the weekend series with a 2-2 record.