REGINA, Sask. – A career-high 30 points from Charlotte Kot led No. 2-seeded Regina to a 66-63 win over McGill as the Cougars claimed bronze at the 2018 U SPORTS women's basketball Final Eight, Sunday, at the University of Regina's Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

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The Cougars claimed their first medal since winning silver in 2013. McGill, the defending national champs who were seeded fourth, settled for fourth place after posting a 1-2 record, including a 55-39 quarter-final win over McMaster on Thursday and a heart-breaking 46-44 semifinal loss on a buzzer-beater to Carleton on Saturday.

In the gold medal game, Carleton defeated Saskatchewan 69-48 to capture their first-ever national title, finishing at 38-2 overall and 29-0 in league and playoffs.
 
McGill jumped into a 17-14 first quarter lead but stumbled in the next stanza, which was won by Regina 23-14 to send the Cougars into half time with a 37-31 advantage. Regina extended their lead to a dozen points after the third quarter, outscoring the Martlets 18-12. McGill rallied to win the final stanza 20-11 but ran out of time.
 
Three fourth-quarter long balls from McGill's Stephanie Guinois-Cote narrowed the gap to two points with less than 25 seconds to play. Regina's Sara Hubenig then split a pair of free throws to make it a three-point spread, giving the Martlets a chance to tie on the last possession, but Gladys Hakizimana's desperate attempt from distance sailed wide of the rim. The junior guard from Montreal was named as McGill's player of the game. She finished with a team-high 18 points, buttressed by a 4-for-7 performance from three-point range and a 4-for-4 effort from the free-throw line.

"We just made way too many mistakes to play against one of the top teams in the country, it's too hard to come back from them," said Ryan Thorne, head coach of the Martlets who committed 15 turnovers that led directly to 15 points for Regina. The Cougars were charged with 14 turnovers that led to nine points.

"That team's transition game is so good and that's where they beat us. They scored a lot of points in transition and it was definitely something that we impressed by and we were overwhelmed a bit by that."

Teammate Alex Kiss-Rusk, a fifth-year senior from Beaconsfield, Que., registered 10 points and 11 boards in her final collegiate contest. It was her team-leading 19th "double-double" of the season in 30 games overall. She was the only McGill player named to merit all-tournament honours at the championship. The 6-foot-4 centre scored 25 points in three games, collecting 36 rebounds with 11 assists, five blocks and a pair of steals. The 23-old social work major shot 44 per cent from the field (11/25) and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the line.

Guinois-Cote, a science junior from St. Jacques le Mineur, Que., went 4-for-12 from downtown and finished with 11 points.

Senior Marie-Love Michel, playing in her last game, contributed eight points and eight rebounds. Rounding out the scoring for McGill was freshman Charlotte Clayton (7 pts), senior Frederique Potvin (6) and junior Geraldine Cabillo-Abante (3).

Kyanna Giles also hit double digits for the Cougars with 10 points, while Hubenig chipped in with nine and Christina McCusker added seven.

"I didn't have any doubts about us competing after last night's loss," said Cougars head coach Dave Taylor, whose troops suffered a crushing 74-71 semifinal defeat in front of capacity hometown crowd the previous night. "We're always competitors - we talked about wanting to finish the season on our home floor with a win, and I'm glad we did."
 
McGill shot 31 per cent from the field (22/71), 30.6 from beyond the arc (11/36) and went a perfect 8-for-8 from the line. The Cougars shot 41.9 (26/62), 20.0 (3/15), respectively, and went 11-for-17 from the charity stripe.

The Martlets dominated the glass with a 45-38 rebounding margin. They also had an edge in steals (7-5) and blocks (3-2).

Three McGill seniors suited up for the last time with the aforementioned Kiss-Rusk, Michel and Potvin.

"It was disappointing to have our seniors leave the program with a loss in their final game," said Thorne, who guided the RSEQ champion Martlets to a stellar 24-9 record overall, including an 11-5 second-place finish in league play. The team fell two games shy of their third straight 26-win season.

"They've given us so much and helped make this program one of the top in the country. They brought something special to our game and it's going to be hard to replace them. A loss like those three is not something that we can easily replace in one year but we have some young players that can develop into the type of players that we will be losing. Clayton is one who should be a seamless transition from the graduation of Potvin. We've got a key 6-foot-3 recruit that were expecting a commitment from in the near future who could hopefully step in for Kiss-Rusk and I think that Guinois-Cote can step in as an under-sized player at the four spot who could stretch and battle inside."
 
Boxscore
 
Players of the Game
Regina: Charlotte Kot
McGill: Gladys Hakizimana


ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Alex Kiss-Rusk, McGill
Charlotte Kot, Regina
Elizabeth Leblanc, Carleton
Summer Masikewich, Saskatchewan
Catherine Traer, Carleton

TOURNAMENT MVP
Elizabeth Leblanc, Carleton

U SPORTS WOMEN'S FINAL EIGHT TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Thurs., Mar. 8
QUARTER-FINALS:
Carleton 52, Calgary 42
McGill 55, McMaster 39
Regina 76, Laval 56
Saskatchewan 72, Acadia 67

Fri., Mar. 9
CONSOLATION SEMIFINAL: Calgary 60, McMaster 52
CONSOLATION SEMIFINAL: Laval 74, Acadia 63

Sat., Mar. 10
CONSOLATION FINAL: Calgary 71, Laval 68
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINAL: Carleton 46, McGill 44
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINAL: Saskatchewan 74, Regina 71

Sun., Mar. 11
BRONZE MEDAL GAME: Regina 66, McGill 63
GOLD MEDAL GAME: Carleton 69, Saskatchewan 48