QUICKLY
The University of Regina's women's basketball team led from nearly wire to wire as the Cougars took a convincing 71-45 victory over Manitoba on Wednesday night in a Canada West play-in game in Abbotsford, B.C.

OFF TO THE QUARTERS
The win puts No. 5-seeded Regina into the Canada West quarterfinals. The Cougars will now meet No. 4-seeded and tournament host Fraser Valley on Thursday night.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars jumped out to a quick 9-3 lead, then went over four minutes without scoring while Manitoba brought the score back level. But Regina broke out in a big way before the end of the opening quarter, with Dayna Pearce driving a 10-0 run that put the Cougars up 19-9 heading into the second.
• Regina had another big push in the back half of the second quarter, scoring nine consecutive points to turn what had been a 27-17 lead into a commanding 19-point advantage. The Cougars led 38-21 at the break and pushed the lead to 25 at one point in the third quarter before Manitoba reeled off 10 straight points to get back to within 15.
• But that was as close as the Bisons would come. Head coach Dave Taylor put his starters back in and that group got the lead back up over 20 before finally taking a seat for the rest of the contest. Regina held Manitoba to just seven points in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

NOTES

• With Thursday's quarterfinal looming just 24 hours away, Wednesday's game couldn't have gone much better for Regina. No Cougar was in the contest for more than 23 minutes as all six bench players got extended run in the second half.
• Jade Belmore scored a game-high 22 points for Regina, finishing an efficient 9-for-14 from the field including 2-for-3 from three-point range.
• Pearce added 11 points while Kianna Wiens scored 10 and Ryenn Schutz and Maddy Seida both finished with 8. The rookie tandem of Schutz and Kyu Fust tied for the team high with eight rebounds.
• Emerson Martin and Autumn Agar both had 10 points to lead Manitoba.
• Regina and Fraser Valley met twice during Canada West play. The Cascades scored a 79-72 victory on Nov. 24 before the Cougars pulled out a 78-76 win the following night. Both of those games were played in Regina.

NEXT UP
The Cougars and the Cascades will tip off at 6:00 PM (PST) on Thursday night in Abbotsford.