QUICKLY
The No. 10-ranked Regina Cougars were tested on Friday night, but pulled away from Winnipeg in the fourth quarter for an 82-72 win in a Canada West women's basketball game at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars jumped out to an early lead thanks to a 9-0 run that featured back-to-back triples by Maddy Seida and Kyu Fust, helping them build up a 21-13 lead after the opening quarter.
• Regina led by as many as 19 points in the second and took a 48-32 lead into halftime, but Winnipeg made things interesting after the break.
• The Wesmen started to hit some shots in the third quarter, getting triples from Raia Guinto, Sadie McMillan-Stowards, and Tamiya Ness during a 14-3 run which saw them hold the Cougars without a field goal for five full minutes of game time. Winnipeg then went on a 12-2 run to make it a one-possession game, and Jasia Hayden's three-pointer seconds into the fourth quarter cut Regina's lead to two.
• But after Hayden's triple, Winnipeg only had one bucket in the next six and a half minutes. The Cougars scored 12 of the next 14 points to restore the double-digit lead and were never seriously threatened after that.

NOTES

• Jade Belmore, Rachel Vanderhooft, and Kianna Wiens all scored in double figures for Regina. Belmore had a team-leading 18 points, Vanderhooft scored 11, and Wiens finished with 10.
• Belmore added a game-high 10 points to notch the only double-double of the contest.
• The Cougars improve to 14-5 with the win. They can still finish anywhere from fifth to seventh in Canada West's RPI metric, which will be used to seed teams for the conference's 12-team postseason tournament at Fraser Valley. The Cougars' first-round opponent could be any of Manitoba, Mount Royal, UBC Okanagan, or Victoria.
• Guinto and Anna Kernaghan both had 21 points to lead Winnipeg, which falls to 5-14 with the loss. The Wesmen's slim playoff hopes were also extinguished with the setback. Winnipeg could still tie Manitoba in the standings, but the Bisons would hold the tiebreaker for the final Canada West postseason spot based on head-to-head results.

NEXT UP
The Cougars will host Winnipeg again on Saturday night at the CKHS. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 PM.