Box Score The University of Regina's women's basketball team defeated host Winnipeg by a 65-54 margin on Sunday afternoon in the championship final of the Wesmen Classic, an eight-team non-conference tournament held at the Duckworth Centre in Winnipeg.

The Cougars led from wire to wire in Sunday's win, jumping out to a 22-7 lead after the opening quarter and holding a 31-15 advantage at halftime. It looked like the Cougars might run away with it after increasing the lead to 19 shortly after halftime, but a two-minute stretch in the second half which saw Winnipeg score 13 straight points brought the Wesmen to within four points.

But that was as close as Winnipeg got. The Cougars replied with a Madeleine Tell triple and a Kyanna Giles bucket on the next two possessions to quickly get the lead back up to nine, and Regina didn't surrender a point in the final two minutes to lock away the win.

The victory was the third in as many days for the Cougars, who took out Algoma and Lakehead in the first two rounds of the tournament to set up the championship game against the Wesmen.

Christina McCusker was named the MVP of the tournament after a strong first two games and an 18-point, 13-rebound effort against Winnipeg on Sunday. Kyanna Giles landed a spot on the tournament all-star team, scoring 10 points and adding eight rebounds for the Cougars in Sunday's win.

Michaela Kleisinger added 13 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in the win for Regina, which has now won nine consecutive games and is 16-5 against U SPORTS opposition this season.

Faith Hezekiah had a game-high 27 points for Winnipeg.

The Cougars will return to the Canada West schedule next weekend on the road at the University of Victoria. They'll square off against the Vikes next Friday and Saturday.