REGINA, Sask. – In a battle of two ranked teams, the No. 1-ranked University of Regina's women's basketball team took out No. 10 Victoria by a 61-47 margin on Friday night as both teams opened up the Canada West schedule at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

"They out-competed us. They are obviously a very good team and you can't let a team as skilled as they are out work you," said Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair. "We got behind in the first half, in the second quarter especially. We gave up 25 points and a lot of those were in transition. We didn't follow the game plan and were down by 19 at half."

Nicole Karstein led Victoria with a double-double, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Jenna Krug had eight points, while Jenna Bugiardini matched Karstein with 10 rebounds.
 
First year Vikes, Calli McMillan and Aleah Ashlee each scored seven points in the loss.
 
Regina's two fifth-year players led the way, with Charlotte Kot scoring a game-high 17 points and Katie Polischuk chipping in with 13, nine of which came on her three triples. 
 
Regina rookie Kyanna Giles got her first start in a Canada West game and was a major part of the U of R's rebounding advantage, leading the team with 10 boards. Christina McCusker added nine rebounds, while Kot and Michaela Kleisinger both had eight.
 
The teams were close after the opening quarter as the Cougars held a 15-11 lead, but the second quarter was all Regina. The Cougars scored the first seven points of the second, and closed the quarter on a 13-2 run that gave the home side a 40-21 advantage at the break.
 
Regina scored just eight points in the third quarter, but allowed only five to the visiting Vikes as the two teams combined for a meager total of 13 points in the period. The Cougars doubled up Victoria at one point early in the fourth after buckets by Polischuk and McCusker on back-to-back possessions gave them a 52-26 lead, and though the Vikes outscored Regina 21-9 the rest of the way they were never able to cut the U of R's lead to anything fewer than 14 points.

"We played better in the second half and were able to close the gap but it was too little too late. We have to come out with more effort tomorrow," said Sinclair
 
The two teams will finish off the weekend set on Saturday night at the CKHS. Tip-off is again scheduled for 5 p.m.