U of R women’s, U of S men’s basketball teams earn comeback wins

It was a wild night of basketball as the University of Regina women’s team and University of Saskatchewan men’s team completed comeback wins Friday in Regina.

Each team’s win clinches a home playoff series for both teams.

Carolina Goncalves, Cougars comeback after 13-point deficit

The Cougars had to comeback after being down 13 at the half, but Regina found a way to get the 82-76 home win.

The comeback was made possible by second-year guard Carolina Goncalves, who scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the second half.

“I love to play these game, like close games, that’s my thing,” Goncalves said following the win.

“I love this team, I’m so happy for us.”

It was a familiar story coming into game between the Cougars and Huskies women’s basketball teams.

Both were at the top of the Canada West standings and ranked nationally, with Saskatoon sitting second in the nation and Regina at ninth.

The weekend series had major Canada-West playoff implications with the U of S being able to clinch first and the Cougars could fall anywhere from second to fifth in terms of RPI.

RPI is the formula used by Canada-West to determine playoff seeding.

The U of S showed why they are among the top teams in the country in the first half, shooting 50 per cent from three-point range. Fourth-year Huskie Sabine Dukate went three for five from three-point range.

The Cougars had trouble hitting shots in the opening half, only going 12/34 from the field including an abysmal 1/11 from beyond the arc.

“We were getting frustrated, we feed off of our defence and I said if we do the things we need to we will be back in this game, if we don’t we’re going to be embarrassed,” said head coach Dave Taylor.

The message got through to the team, with a gritty performance to begin the second half by the Cougars.

Goncalves, ,last year’s U Sports Rookie of the Year, was the spark plug the Cougars needed to get the comeback finished.

The Cougars outscored the Huskies by 19 en route to a crucial Canada West win.

Huskies head coach Lisa Thomaidis said their defence let them down in the second half.

“We held them to 28 in the first half and then they exploded for 54 points in the second half so great for us to learn from that and come back and we’ve got another shot at them (Satruday),” Thomaidis said.

The Huskies can clinch the first overall seed with a win Saturday.

Lawrence Moore’s 24-point fourth quarter leads Huskies comeback

Lawrence Moore completely overwhelmed the men’s Cougars team in the fourth quarter, with his 24 points completing the 17-point comeback for the Huskies.

Moore finished the game with 32 points but only had eight through three quarters.

“People are sitting there wondering why am I sticking with him, well that was kind of on display tonight. When crunch time comes he can bring it,” said Huskies head coach Barry Rawlyk.

The Cougars came into the game in third in Canada West with the Huskies holding onto eighth place.

Based on RPI each team could find their way into the top three for seeding based on RPI.

Neither team found a way to pull away from each other in the first half. It looked like it was going to halftime tied but Cougars guard Brayden Kuski hit a buzzer-beater three to give the Cougars the lead.

The Cougars kicked things into an extra gear in the third and get their lead to 17-points at one point in the frame.

But that’s when Moore would find his shot and take the game over. Moore scored 24 of the team’s final 29 points, including a dagger three that tied the game late in regulation. Moore was fouled on the shot which made it a four-point play to give the Huskies a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“It felt good to get my team energized off the bench and it got me started up and ready to play,” Moore said.

After the game, Carter Millar, who had 22 points in the loss, said it was a tough one.

“(Moore) outscored us, our whole team, in the fourth quarter and you can’t win games when you let somebody do that,” Millar said.

The win essentially puts an end to the Cougars chances of hosting a quarter-finals series. The team will still get to host a Canada West play-in game.

The Huskies and Cougars will meet again Saturday night.