(By University of Regina Sports Information)

REGINA – It was all Cougars right from the opening tip on Saturday night as the University of Regina's women's basketball team put up an 86-28 win over MacEwan in a Canada West game at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Carolina Goncalves got the No. 9-ranked Cougars going with 15 points in the first quarter alone, helping Regina take a 24-8 lead after the opening period. The Cougars led 45-15 at halftime and kept it up defensively all game, conceding just four points in the fourth quarter and holding an opponent to fewer than 30 points for just the third time in program history.

"Obviously I was pleased with our defensive effort tonight and that was something that carried over from the second half of last night's game," Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. "I talked about making good decisions tonight and we did an outstanding job of that all night, and getting hot from three made a big difference offensively."

The Cougars were 13-for-30 from three-point range, led by Faith Reid (4-7) and Goncalves (3-7). Goncalves finished with a game-high 23 points, while Kyanna Giles was all over the stat sheet with 20 points, seven rebounds, seven steals, and four assists.

Mackenzie Farmer had a team-high eight points for MacEwan (4-8).

Both teams will now have a month-long break from the Canada West schedule. The Cougars return to action on Jan. 4 and Jan. 5 at Victoria, while MacEwan won't play again until a Jan. 11/12 series against Calgary.

NOTES: Christina McCusker had four blocks including the 100th of her five-year career at the U of R ... McCusker surpassed Brittany Read for third on the school's all-time blocks list, and with 102 in her career will now try to reel in second-place Chelsea Cassano (127).