The University of Regina's women's basketball team defeated the University of Alberta Pandas 80-71 on Sunday evening to advance to the Canada West Final Four.
 
Faith Reid led the Cougars with 21 points, hitting seven three-pointers to match her season high in made three's. Jade Belmore had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds to help the Cougars upset the U SPORTS No. 7 Pandas who went 14-2 in the regular season.
 
The game opened as a back-and-forth affair, with both teams trading baskets to be tied 6-6 at the 7:23 mark of the first quarter. The Cougars turned on the switch on both offense and defense after that, going on an 18-7 run to close out the quarter and lead 24-13 after 10 minutes.
 
The Cougars were dominant to start the second quarter, going on a 12-0 run in the first three minutes to extend their lead to 35-13. The Pandas responded with an 8-0 run of their own to make it 35-21 with 4:13 left in the second. Regina guards Reid and Cara Misskey each hit a three pointer in the final minute and a half of the frame to help their team take a 43-29 lead into halftime.
 
The Cougars went on another run to start the third quarter, scoring 12 straight points in the first six minutes as Alberta could not buy a bucket. The Pandas hit their first shot of the quarter with 2:53 left, as an and-one play by Mackenzie Cook ended her teams' scoring drought to make it 55-32. Alberta closed the rest of the quarter on a 13-5 run to trail 60-45 heading into the last 10 minutes.
 
The Pandas fought back in the fourth quarter, getting Regina's lead down to just eight points with 4:01 to go. Belmore ensured that they would not get closer as she scored the next four points for the Cougars. The Cougars ran down the clock after that, holding on to punch their ticket to the semi-finals.
 
Julia Vydrova also had a double-double for the Cougars, racking up 12 points and 11 rebounds. Regina got good performances from Misskey (14 points, seven assists) and Zoe Hartmann (eight points, three rebounds).
 
The Pandas leading scorer was Emma Kary, who finished with a line of 19 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. The other Panda to score in double digits was Cook, who got 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Claire Signatovich scored seven points and hauled in a massive 17 rebounds in the loss.
 
The Cougars will head to the Final Four to take on the either the University of Winnipeg Wesmen or the University of Fraser Valley Cascades in Saskatoon on March 18.

 

A nice feed from Misskey to Belmore, who finishes for two! 🔥😼

That'll seal the deal for the Cougars! pic.twitter.com/S82fB79VBQ

— U of R Cougars Women's Basketball (@ReginaCougarWBB) March 7, 2022