The University of Regina's women's basketball team heated up in the second half on Saturday night at Alberta, defeating the Pandas by a 65-46 score to notch their eighth consecutive Canada West victory.

While the Cougars (13-1) remain tied with Saskatchewan atop the Canada West standings, they have now overtaken Saskatchewan for top spot in the conference in terms of RPI. Regina now has a .6501 RPI, just a few percentage points ahead of Saskatchewan's .6478.

Saturday's game saw the first half played to a dead heat. Regina used a huge 18-3 run in the first quarter to erase an early Alberta surge, only to see the Pandas come back in the second and the two teams went into halftime tied up at 29-29.

But the third quarter belonged to the Regina defence.

The Cougars surrendered just four points in the quarter, scoring 15 of their own to take a 44-33 lead heading into the fourth. Regina left no hope for a comeback in the final quarter, reeling off a big 16-2 run to take a 26-point lead – their largest of the game – with five minutes to go.

Charlotte Kot led the Cougars with 15 points. Kyia Giles came off the bench to score 12, while Michaela Kleisinger added 11. Kyanna Giles scored eight points and attacked the boards with her usual aggressiveness, leading all players with 10 rebounds.

Emma Kary led Alberta (6-8) with 12 points.

The Cougars will now prepare for two consecutive home weekends at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport. They'll host Brandon next Friday and Saturday, then Winnipeg on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27.