| Although they had to go in the back door, they were happy to be there nonetheless. The Cougar Womens basketball team travelled to Thunder Bay, Ontario, for the 1998 Women's Basketball championships. After losing the GPAC championship in three games to their conference rivals, the Manitoba Bisons, the Cougs were awarded the wildcard. Despite the wildcard, the Cougars went into the tournament with high expectations as the number three seed. In their first round matchup, Regina faced off against the Concordia Stingers, champions of the Quebec league and seeded sixth in the tournament. After jumping out to a 40-27 halftime lead, the Stingers gradually fought their way back into the game. With less than 30 seconds left, they were down by only two points. Guard Carol-Anne Tull was fouled and had a chance to put Concordia in the lead. However, Tull was unable to convert both free throws and the game ended with Concordia taking multiple shots at the Regina hoop, but unable to sink anything. Regina prevailed 68-67. "I was really pleased with our performance in the second half," stated Concordia coach Keith Pruden. "I don't think Regina expected us to come back quite that hard." "It's nice to win a tough game," commented Cougar head coach Christine | Stapleton. "Unfortunately, we almost gave it away." Veteran Cougar forward Amy Mickleborough was injured seven minutes into the second half when she went down after stepping on a foot. Jasmine Weseen paced Regina with 14 points, with Becky Poley chipping in 12. Anne-Marie Heroux scored 21 points to lead Concordia. "We're definitely the better team, but we didn't play like it in the second half," said Weseen. "I thought we played fearless. In the second half, we just played a little stupid," said Stapleton. "It's not a personal thing at anybody. We just didn't manage the game well." In other first round games, Victoria defeated UPEI 71-52, defending champion Manitoba needed overtime to defeat the gritty hosts Lakehead Lady Nor'Westers 77-67; and Laurentian defeated Western 75-73. In the semi-final, Regina faced UVic. After the Vikings opened up a 26-11 lead by the ten minute mark, the Cougars spent the remainder of the half trying to come back. Although they tied it up thanks to a 16-1 run, they were unable to distance themselves from Victoria. A buzzer-beating three point shot from Crystal Heisler pulled the Cougars to within three points at halftime. Again in the second half, the Vikes pulled away from the Cougars and Regina spent much | of the half trying to pull level with their opponent. Victoria won 73-60 to earn a berth in the final. "We still have to do a better job of all of our big players playing the big games at the same time," said Stapleton. "We got some great minutes from our bench." Guard Lisa Koop, a member of Canada's Senior National team, scored 25 points to lead the Vikes. Medorann Harris scored 13 points to lead Regina scorers. "It's heartbreaking. These are the biggest games of all of our lives," said Harris. "We had our hearts set on making the final." In the other semi-final, Manitoba defeated Laurentian 62-44. On Sunday afternoon, Regina faced Laurentian for the bronze medal. In similar fashion to their earlier two tournament games, the Cougars were unable to hold a lead and the score see-sawed back and forth for much of the second half. With 19.3 seconds remaining, guard Andrea Gottselig was fouled on a layup. She failed to hit the free throw, and Laurentian grabbed the rebound. With four seconds left, Shawna Conway was fouled by Harris. She hit the second of two free throws to give Laurentian a 73-72 win for third place. In the championship final, Victoria ended the Bisons' hopes of a third consecutive national title with a 66-61 victory.. |
