Cougars women’s basketball playoff run comes to an end at hands of UBC

University of British Columbia forward Cassie Joli-Coeur drives past a Regina defender during their Canada West semi-final playoff matchup. (Source: Canada West)

The University of Regina (U of R) Cougars women’s basketball national championship hopes have been ended in the conference semi-finals by the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

With a national championship berth on the line, UBC used a 19-15 fourth quarter to defeat the Regina Cougars 74-68 Friday night.

Regina was led by fifth year Canada West All-Stars Cara Misskey and Jade Belmore. Belmore finished with a game high 28 points and eight rebounds.

Misskey added 14 points, five steals, four rebounds, and three assists.

The Thunderbirds are led by former U of R coach Dave Taylor, who left the Cougars last summer.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

“As hard as these are on me as a coach, the reality is that last week, we were playing a number six ranked team, this week it was the number four seed and that’s why it’s going to be these types of close games,” he said after the game.

“We found a way here two-weeks in a row and for us we’re following our game plan, with more shots, by winning the rebounding battle and we got to the line and then made stops when we needed to in the second half.”

With the win, UBC will play in the Canada West Final next week and can look forward to returning to the U SPORTS Final 8 that which take place March 5 to 8 at Laval.

UBC will now await the winner of the University of Calgary and University of Saskatchewan for the Canada West Championship Final.