U of R Cougars look to rebound after key losses in off-season

It’s a new-look women’s basketball team for the University of Regina.

The Cougars entered the 2019-20 season without a couple of key contributors from recent years. All-Canadian guard Kyanna Giles, who was also the 2016-17 rookie of the year, decided to leave the program and transfer to the University of Winnipeg to play with the Wesmen.

The Winnipeg-born player suffered a devastating knee injury in the Canada West final against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on March 1 in a 53-49 loss.

Her sister Kyia also decided to leave the Cougars program, with the guard electing to transfer to Ryerson University to play with the Rams. Kyia suffered a knee injury of her own during the U Sports national title tournament about a week after Kyanna suffered hers.

Both will be ineligible to play this season due to U Sports transfer rules.

“We’ve got to be careful (when talking about reasons for transferring) because sometimes it’s due to marks and injuries and different stuff,” head coach Dave Taylor said as the team prepared to meet the Mount Royal Cougars in Calgary. Tip-off for Thursday’s game is set for 12 noon.

“We always tell players they’ve got to go where the right fit is for you and once that happens and different things, we deal with the group we’ve got.”

The team also lost 2017-18 rookie of the year Carolina Goncalves, with the talented guard electing to pursue basketball opportunities away from the U of R.

“(Players leaving) doesn’t happen a lot with our program — we’ve got stability — but with university players, there’s all kinds of different things,” Taylor said. “Sometimes we’ve lost people for academic reasons (such as) to go into dentistry. With our scholarship rules, there’s money stuff. There’s all kinds of different things that go on that impacts it.

“We’ve been kind of blessed because we’ve had a lot of people play five years, but that’s not the norm.”

One of those fifth-year players for the Cougars this season will be Michaela Kleisinger. The Regina-born guard is one of three players in their final years (along with Avery Pearce and Alexi Rowden) who will help push the team as it tries to make its fifth straight U Sports national title tournament appearance. The team also won the Canada West title during the 2017-18 season.

“We had a lot of losses over the off-season, but we just have a lot of really young players with a lot of potential,”  Kleisinger said. “(I’m) just bringing that experience, that basketball IQ right now. (I’m) just trying to keep everybody’s ducks in line and get everybody focused on the right direction.”

She said the road trip can allow the team to come together as the Canada West season rolls on. The Cougars lost both of their games at home against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds last weekend.

“You’re forced to spend the entire time together, but that can be a really great experience and an opportunity to get to know each other,” Kleisinger said. “(We have) a lot of new players and a lot of young players.”

After the game on Thursday, the Cougars will face Mount Royal in Calgary again on Friday. That game is set to start at 1 p.m.