The University of Regina's women's basketball team secured its fifth consecutive victory on Friday night with an 89-43 road win over Winnipeg at the Duckworth Centre.
 
Kyanna Giles led the Cougars in scoring for the sixth game in a row, leading all players with 22 points while also collecting a game-high 13 rebounds to notch her sixth double-double of the Canada West season.
 
Regina improves its conference record to 14-3 with the win.
 
"I was pleased with our second-half effort and parts of our first half," Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. "We'll face a much tougher test tomorrow with their leading scorer back in the lineup."
 
Besides Giles' double-double, the Cougars also got double-digit scoring performances from Carolina Goncalves (12 points) and Faith Reid (11). Alexi Rowden had a season-high eight points off the bench for Regina, while Macaela Crone added seven points, led all players with six assists, and pulled down five rebounds.
 
Robyn Boulanger didn't start for Winnipeg, but played 26 minutes and finished with a team-leading 11 points for the Wesmen (6-11). Faith Hezekiah, the conference's leader with an average of 21.5 points per game, didn't play.
 
The Cougars jumped out to a torrid start, scoring each of the game's first 14 points and not conceding a point until Winnipeg's Farrah Castillo got a bucket nearly six minutes into the contest. But Castillo's basket sparked the Wesmen, who then closed the quarter on a 16-2 run of their own to tie the game after the opening period.
 
The game stayed tight until the Cougars closed out the second with 10 straight points to give them a 37-26 lead at halftime. That run set the stage for the dominant second half by the U of R, which saw the Cougars outscore Winnipeg 30-10 in the third quarter and 22-7 in the fourth to run away with the win.
 
Regina shot an impressive 53% from the field in the win, including 10-for-25 (40%) from three-point range. The Cougars also dominated the glass, outrebounding Winnipeg by a 51-33 margin.
 
The Cougars and the Wesmen will close out the weekend series on Saturday night in Winnipeg. The men's game will open up the doubleheader, with the women playing in the nightcap starting at 7:00.