The University of Regina's women's basketball team wasn't able to overcome hot perimeter shooting by McGill on Thursday night as the Martlets won 72-62 in a U SPORTS Championship quarterfinal in Victoria.

Led by Marika Guerin and Frederique Potvin with four triples apiece, McGill shot 53% from three-point range in the win. The Martlets will advance to the semifinals against Carleton, the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

"I actually thought we played well," Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. "I certainly can't fault our team for what we did. They played well and executed a game plan, and we just lost to a team that hit some good shots out there."

Potvin led McGill with a game-high 20 points, while Guerin, Jennifer Silver, and Alex Kiss-Rusk each added 12 points for the Martlets. Kiss-Rusk led all players with 11 rebounds to notch a double-double.

The Cougars were led offensively by Katie Polischuk with a team-high 17 points, while Michaela Kleisinger hit both of her three-point attempts and added nine points and a team-leading six rebounds. Kyanna Giles had eight points and five rebounds for the U of R, while Sara Hubenig and Christina McCusker both registered six points and five boards.

Regina now moves to the consolation side of the U SPORTS Championship bracket for the second consecutive season. The Cougars will play the loser of Thursday's final quarterfinal between No. 1-seeded Carleton and No. 8 seed Victoria.

The two teams traded leads five times in the first quarter, and fittingly they finished the period tied at 16-16. But McGill went on a 9-2 run over a span of five minutes in the second, taking a lead that they would never relinquish. Potvin and Guerin hit triples on back-to-back possessions late in the half and got another from Guerin with a minute to go before halftime, helping McGill take a 36-30 lead into the break.

In the third quarter, McGill reeled off an 11-4 run over six and a half minutes as the Cougars struggled to generate offence. That gave the Martlets their largest lead of the game at 49-38, but Polischuk spun her way into the paint and scored a tough bucket to bring the U of R to within nine at the end of three.

The Cougars continued their momentum from that Polischuk bucket early in the fourth as they strung together their best few minutes of the contest. They employed a full-court press and pushed the pace on the offence, going on a 12-2 run highlighted by a big transition three by Polischuk that brought the Cougars to within one at 51-50.

But McGill had a response, again from the perimeter. Potvin hit a three-pointer to start a quick 7-0 run that put the Martlets back up by eight, and they never led by fewer than six points the rest of the way. Regina was within six points late, but McGill sealed the win by hitting all eight of its free throws in the final minute.

The Cougars will meet either Carleton or Victoria in the second consolation semifinal on Friday night. Game time is set for 8:00 (PT).