Regina, SK – Friday night in Regina, the UNBC Timberwolves women (2-9) fell 80-56 to the Regina Cougars (7-4). The hosts nailed 12 threes on 27 attempts and had 10 different players find the scoresheet at least once in their victory. Leading the way for Regina was the tandem of Kianna Wiens (17 points) and Jade Belmore (16 points) while Wiens (3) and Brenna Metz (3) had six successful threes between them. Leading the charge in response for UNBC was Sveta Boykova who secured her third straight double-double with a 16-point, 14 rebound effort.
Rebecca Landry (13) and
Amrit Manak (11) also finished in double-digits offensively for the TWolves.
Regina jumped out to a 32-16 lead in the opening 10 minutes. The Cougars shot an impressive 73.3 percent (11/15) in the first, and 18 of their 32 points came off the strength of six successful three-point shots. Kiana Weins and Dayna Pearce both had two triples and Weins led all scorers in the first with 10 points. Sergey Schepotkin's crew got it's usual boost from Sveta Boykova who opened the game with eight points and four rebounds. Boykova shot two-for-three and hit all four of her free-throws.
Rebecca Landry chimed in with a pair of buckets while
Amrit Manak and
Viktoriia Filatova each added two points. Regina held a slim 8-6 rebounding edge in the first.
Amrit Manak and the TWolves responded wonderfully in the second quarter, outscoring the hosts by a 19-12 margin and getting the deficit back to single digits. Manak, the second-year Toronto product, hit three of her five shots in the second quarter, including a buzzer-beating triple that helped push UNBC's deficit to within 10 points (27-37). Sveta Boykova continued to make her mark at both ends of the floor, as she had a game-high 12 points and eight rebounds at the half-way point. The key buckets in the second quarter for Regina came via Maddy Seida and Brenna Metz who added triples, giving the Cougars an eight-for-13 first-half from beyond the arc. 20 minutes through, the score was 44-35 favouring Regina with the TWolves holding the Canada West leading scorer Jade Belmore to six points on two-of-five shooting.
Cara Misskey potted back-to-back buckets in the early stages of the third quarter, restoring the double-digit advantage for Regina. Just under four minutes into the third, Sveta Boykova got the TWolves on the board by drilling a pair of free-throws – Her seventh and eighth straight. By the mid-way point of the third, UNBC had started the game 12-for-12 from the charity stripe. Regina went on a 9-2 run to start the third and got to nine thanks to a deep corner three from Brenna Metz – the ninth triple of the game for the Cougars. The next points for UNBC came from a corner three from
Sophia Fuller, which seemed to spark a turnaround for the visitors. UNBC followed up with buckets from
Rebecca Landry (a pair of free-throws),
Halle Tiessen (a deep two) and
Adaiah Tupas-Singh (A three) to stay within striking distance. Jade Belmore made more noise offensive for the hosts in the third quarter as she accounted for 10 of Regina's 17 points. Regina outscored UNBC 17-13 in the third and led 61-48 through 30 minutes.
Hopes of a UNBC comeback were quashed in the early moments of the fourth when, after
Hanna Busic opened the scoring for UNBC, Brenna Metz and Cara Misskey notched back-to-back buckets to push Regina's lead back to 16. Regina outscored UNBC 19-8 in the final period with Kiana Wiens leading the way with five points. Five other Cougars found the scoresheet in the fourth, giving them plenty of runway to cement the victory. Busic led UNBC with four fourth quarter points while
Rebecca Landry and Sveta Boykova each added baskets.
Despite the loss, Sveta Boykova's 16-point, 14 rebound effort marked her third consecutive double-double. That effort on the road against a tough foe was more than enough to help her secure the Earls Road Warrior of the Game honour for UNBC.
The final stat line had Regina finish 12-for-27 (44.4 percent) from three while UNBC shot three-of-18. Regina out rebounded UNBC 45-35 and turnovers were even at 17-17.
The two sides will meet again tomorrow night from Regina at 4:00 pm PT.
