(By University of Regina Sports Information)

REGINA, Sask. – Katie Polischuk's career-high total of 28 points led the University of Regina's women's basketball team to a 79-71 home win over Saskatchewan on Friday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Polischuk scored 20 of her 28 points in the second quarter alone and finished the game with four triples while shooting 10-for-18 from the field. She also pulled down seven rebounds, helping the Cougars improve their Canada West record to 6-1 on the season.

"Katie kept us in the game for the first half, and then our defence settled in after halftime," Cougars head coach Dave Taylor said. "Sara Hubenig did a great job of making (Sabine) Dukate hit some tough shots. Now that Saskatchewan is healthy, they're definitely a top-ten team and that was a quality win for us tonight."

Polischuk wasn't the only Cougar to hit a career high in points on Friday. Rookie guard Kyanna Giles also had a strong outing, going 7-for-13 from the field and hitting the 20-point mark for the first time in a U of R uniform. Hubenig added 13 points and six rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench for the Cougars, while Ainsley MacIntyre pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds.

Dukate hit four threes and led Saskatchewan with 20 points, while Libby Epoch scored 12 points and Megan Ahlstrom had 10. Megan Lindquist fell just short of a double-double, scoring eight points while leading all players with 11 rebounds.

Saskatchewan (3-4) took the lead early, largely on the strength of strong perimeter shooting by the Huskies. Four different U of S players hit triples in the quarter, and the Huskies shot 5-for-9 from three-point range as a team while jumping out to a 27-18 lead after the opening 10 minutes.

But then Polischuk caught fire. She scored 20 points in the second quarter alone, hitting all four of her attempts from three and going 6-for-7 from the field overall in the period to help the Cougars draw to within three at the break.

The Cougars burst out of the gates in the third quarter, starting the second half on a 12-0 run sparked by the play of Kyanna Giles to take the lead for good. Regina outscored Saskatchewan by a 21-8 margin in the third quarter to take a double-digit lead into the final period, and continued to lead by at least two possessions throughout the fourth. Epoch hit a three to get the Huskies to within six with four minutes to go, but that was as close as they'd come as Saskatchewan scored only two more field goals the rest of the way.

The two teams will close out the first half of the Canada West schedule on Saturday night at the CKHS. Tip-off is again scheduled for 6 p.m.