COUGARS, LAVAL MEET IN U SPORTS QUARTERFINALS
In the national tournament yet again, the Cougars will match up against a strong Laval team in a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday night (6:00) at the CKHS. The winner will face either Acadia or Saskatchewan in the tournament semifinals on Saturday.

FAMILIAR TERRITORY
The Cougars are making their third consecutive U SPORTS Championship appearance, their ninth in 12 seasons under head coach Dave Taylor, their 15th in the past 21 seasons, and their 19th in program history.

NATIONALS AT HOME
The Cougars are hosting the national championship for the third time in the past decade and for the fourth time overall. They also hosted in 1979, 2009, and 2013. The team made it to the title game on home court in 2009 and 2013, but ended up with national silver medals after both of those contests after losing to Simon Fraser and Windsor, respectively.

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
The U of R has sent a team to represent Canada in the FIBA 3x3 World University League in Xiamen, China for two consecutive years now. This past October, the squad consisting of Kyanna Giles, Michaela Kleisinger, Charlotte Kot, and Avery Pearce won silver at the event. Sara Hubenig, Kleisinger, Kot, and the now-graduated Katie Polischuk also won silver in Canadian colours in the 2016 event.

MORE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
In November, rookie guard Carolina Goncalves briefly left the team to join Portugal's senior national team for a pair of FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2019 qualifying games. Goncalves was with the national team for Portugal's games against Greece (in Almada, Portugal) and against Israel (in Tel Aviv, Israel) before returning to the Cougars in time for the series against UNBC.

AWARD WINNERS
A year after Kyanna Giles was named the Canada West Rookie of the Year, Goncalves received the same honour from the conference after a stellar first season with the Cougars. Giles was also a Canada West first-team all-star, while Kot was named a third-team all-star. Goncalves will hope to join Giles and Andrea (Gottselig) Ward - who's serving as co-chair of the tournament hosting committee this weekend - as the only three players in school history to be named the U SPORTS Rookie of the Year.

AGAINST LAVAL
The Cougars and Laval have met twice before in the U SPORTS quarterfinals. Laval won the first matchup by a score of 57-50 back in 2005 (Winnipeg), but Regina got even with a 69-54 victory in 2010 (Hamilton). They've also split the two national semifinal games they've played against each other, with Laval winning 72-56 in 2002 (Hamilton) and Regina claiming a 73-63 win in 2008 (Saskatoon). The Cougars also had a 1989 consolation semifinal win over the Rouge et Or.

PROJECTED STARTERS

Laval	Regina
#6 Raphaëlle Côté (W • 5-9 • 5th) #8 Claudia Émond (G • 5-7 • 4th) #9 Jane Gagné (W • 6-0 • 3rd) #13 Sarah-Jane Marois (G • 5-7 • 4th) #20 Léa Dominique (P • 6-2 • 1st)	#1 Charlotte Kot (F • 6-0 • 5th) #2 Michaela Kleisinger (G • 5-7 • 3rd) #6 Kyia Giles (G • 5-7 • 2nd) #7 Sara Hubenig (G • 5-9 • 5th) #9 Kyanna Giles (G • 5-7 • 2nd)