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| ReginaCougars.com |
#6 Saskatchewan Huskies (17-3 / 5-3) at #2 Regina Cougars (18-2 / 6-0)
DATE: Saturday, Mar. 10
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport
TICKET INFO: http://ow.ly/Dh1430iOIML
TELEVISION: Sportsnet 360 (Arash Madani, Jaime Hills)
LIVE STATS: http://ift.tt/2IglnIJ
OVERVIEW
Meeting in the playoffs might be routine for these two perennial contenders – Saturday’s matchup will be the 10th postseason matchup in the past 10 seasons between Regina and Saskatchewan – but never have the stakes been so high. While they’ve played in the national tournament three times before, including in last season’s third-place game, this will be the first time the two teams have met in the championship bracket. The winner of the game will advance to Sunday’s U SPORTS championship game against the winner of the Carleton/McGill semifinal.
AGAINST THE HUSKIES: Saturday’s game will be the fifth time the Cougars have matched up against Saskatchewan this year. Regina took a 74-73 non-conference home win in October before the two teams split in Saskatoon the final weekend of the regular season - the Cougars won 74-59 in the first game of the weekend series, but Saskatchewan replied with an 87-82 win the following night. Just last Friday, the Cougars defeated the Huskies 75-55 on home court to win their third Canada West title in program history and improve their record against Saskatchewan to 3-1 this season. Regina is 15-24 in league games and 4-5 in the postseason against the U of S.
IN THE SEMIFINALS: Regina is in the national semifinals for the 12th time in history, having also won quarterfinal games in 1990, 1991, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2013. The Cougars are 6-5 in semifinal games and will be facing a Canada West opponent in this round for the third time since joining the conference prior to the 2001-02 season. Regina defeated Canada West foe Winnipeg in the 2004 semifinals, but lost to Simon Fraser in 2010.
AWARD WINNERS: A year after Kyanna Giles was named the U SPORTS Rookie of the Year, Goncalves received the same honour from the conference after a stellar first season with the Cougars. Giles was also a Canada West first-team all-star and a second-team All-Canadian this year, while Kot was named a conference third-team all-star. Goncalves joins Giles and Andrea (Gottselig) Ward – who’s serving as co-chair of the tournament hosting committee this weekend – as the only three players in school history to be named the U SPORTS Rookie of the Year.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY: The Cougars are making their third consecutive U SPORTS Championship appearance, their ninth in 12 seasons under head coach Dave Taylor, their 15th in the past 21 seasons, and their 19th in program history.
NATIONALS AT HOME: The Cougars are hosting the national championship for the third time in the past decade and for the fourth time overall. They also hosted in 1979, 2009, and 2013. The team made it to the title game on home court in 2009 and 2013, but ended up with national silver medals after both of those contests after losing to Simon Fraser and Windsor, respectively.
(Braden Konschuh/UofR Athletics)
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