Dinos knock off Cougars in Canada West women’s basketball semifinal

The University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team lost just two Canada West games at home all season, but both were to the University of Calgary Dinos.

The second one was more costly, as it eliminated the Cougars from the conference playoffs — and may have cost them a shot at the U Sports national championship tournament.

The third-seeded Dinos outscored the No. 2-seeded Cougars 41-32 in the second half Friday en route to a 71-62 victory in a conference semifinal before an announced crowd of 1,993 at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport.

Calgary advances to the Canada West final against the winner of Saturday’s semifinal in Saskatoon between the fourth-seeded Alberta Pandas and the top-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies. The Dinos also earned one of the conference’s two automatic berths in the U Sports tournament, March 9-12 in Sydney, N.S.

The Cougars still have a chance to make it to nationals as a wild-card entry and, with a 17-3 regular-season record and a 27-4 slate overall, they’re in good position to claim that spot.

In Friday’s game, Regina led 19-16 after the first quarter, but a slow second frame resulted in a 30-30 tie at halftime.

Calgary outscored the Cougars 18-12 in the third and 23-30 in the fourth to post its second victory at the CKHS this season; the Dinos also won 86-80 in overtime in a regular-season game on Feb. 3.

Bobbi-Jo Colburn had 21 points in the semifinal for Calgary, which got 17 from Annacy Palmer. Jade Belmore had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Cougars, while Dayna Pearce added 13 points.

Regina was just 19-for-55 from the field and 6-for-25 from three-point territory.