U of R Cougars win game 1, win away from Canada West finals

The University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball is one win away from making another appearance in the Canada West finals.

The Cougars were able to hold onto a 61-58 win against the Calgary Dinos Thursday night in game one of the semi-finals.

The Cougars were in control of the game, leading by 11 midway through the fourth quarter, but would only score one basket in the final five minutes of the game.

Calgary was able to chip away at the lead but was unable to find a way to complete the comeback.

“That was a playoff basketball game out there and I’m obviously happy we were able to grind out a win,” Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said in a news release. “We haven’t had a lot of those type of games and at times we didn’t handle it very well, and we’ll need to focus on doing a better job of closing out wins moving forward.”

Calgary outshot Regina — 41 per cent to 32 per cent — but the Cougars were able to win the turnover battle 24 to 15.

Charlotte Kot lead the way for the Cougars with 12 points, followed by 11 by Kyia Giles.

If the Cougars advance to the Canada West finals, it will be their ninth appearance in 12 seasons under coach Taylor.

The two teams meet again Friday night for game two of the best-of-three series. A third game would be held on Saturday if it is needed.