The University of Regina's women's basketball team suffered a 63-45 loss to tournament host Ryerson on Friday night in a U SPORTS Women's Final 8 consolation semifinal at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Down to just nine players in the lineup with
Carolina Goncalves,
Kyanna Giles, and
Kyia Giles all injured, the Cougars trailed only 26-22 at halftime but couldn't keep pace after the break as Ryerson went on a 22-4 run in the third quarter to take control of the game.
Regina's lone fifth-year player,
Christina McCusker led the way in her final game in a Cougar uniform. She was 8-for-12 from the field and finished with 19 points and five rebounds.
"I've had a great career here and I've been so glad to have called myself a Cougar for the past five years," McCusker said. "We faced so much adversity this week and I was happy that we gave it all we had in this last game, and that's sport."
Sofia Paska had a big double-double for Ryerson, scoring 24 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in the win. Ryerson will meet Acadia on Sunday afternoon in the consolation final.
Besides McCusker's 19-point effort, the Cougars also got eight points from
Alexi Rowden and seven from
Michaela Kleisinger. While Regina wasn't too far behind Ryerson in a few key stats - the Cougars were only outrebounded 42-38 and had 22 turnovers to Ryerson's 17 despite the patchwork lineup - the Cougars were only 32% from the field including 1-for-18 from three-point range.
NOTES: The Cougars expect to return everyone but McCusker next season with Rowden, Kleisinger, and
Avery Pearce all entering their fifth seasons with the program.
