Game Information
 
Date: Friday, Nov. 22 & Saturday, Nov. 23
Time: 6:00 & 5:00 p.m.
Location: Saskatoon, SK
Venue: Ron & Jane Graham Centre Court at the PAC
Watch: Canadawest.tv
Get in the Action: Tickets
 
SASKATOON – The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women's basketball team, who enter the weekend as the number one ranked program in the nation, continue their four-game homestand this weekend when they welcome the Regina Cougars in a rematch of last year's Canada West Championship.
 
Saskatchewan, who snuck past Regina 52-48 in the conference title game at the PAC on Mar. 1, 2019, will take on their provincial rival for the first time since the Huskies hoisted the Canada West Championship trophy at the PAC.
 
The Huskies, who sit with a perfect 4-0 record in conference play, have been on a tear to start the season outscoring their opponents 348-133. The team was last in action on Nov. 8 and 9 in Saskatoon, when they recorded 78-32 & 93-39 victories over the MacEwan Griffins, preceding the team's bye week of the season.
 
This weekend's matchup will serve as the team's final weekend on home court of 2019, as the team will travel west to Kamloops for a pair of contests against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Nov. 29 and 30 to close the first half of their season. Saskatchewan will return to the PAC next on Jan. 10 & 11 when they welcome the Victoria Vikes to the Bridge City.
 
Regina enters the pair of conference affairs as winners of three of their last four. The Cougars, who started the season 1-3, recovered with back-to-back victories over the visiting Winnipeg Wesmen last weekend at the CKHS to move to the .500 mark on the season.
 
The Cougars swept the Huskies last season in their only regular-season meetings, with Regina recording 82-76 & 78-64 victories at the CKHS in the Queen City, handing Saskatchewan two of their four losses of the 2018-19 regular season.
 
10 Things
 
1: Saturday night will serve as Unity in Sport Night at the PAC. Prior to the game, a camp will be run by Huskie athletes and members of the North American Indigenous Games team.

2: Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand, Dr. Chad London - Dean of Kinesiology, Huskies women's basketball alumna and current assistant coach Jacqueline Lavallee and Huskies men's basketball alumnus Michael Linklater will all speak throughout the night.
 
3: Saskatchewan has held the number one spot in the nation since Oct. 29, when the first U SPORTS Top Ten was released.
 
4: Including the Huskies, there are only four teams in the nation with undefeated records. The Calgary Dinos also possess a 4-0 record, while a pair of RSEQ teams in the Bishop's Gaiters and Laval Rouge et Or both sit at 2-0. 
 
5: Lisa Thomaidis will be back on the Huskies bench after spending the bye week with the Canadian Senior Women's National Team in Edmonton for the FIBA Women's Olympic Pre-Qualifying Americas Tournament. Thomaidis, who has served as the Canadian head coach since 2013, led the team to a 3-0 finish.

6: The Huskies have not lost a Canada West regular-season game at the PAC since Feb. 2, 2018, when they fell 79-54 to the Cougars. Saskatchewan bounced back the following night with an 87-82 victory over Regina, kickstarting the 13-game home winning streak the team currently has in conference play.
 
7: In the Huskies weekend series against the Griffins, a pair of Huskies etched their names into the program's record books. Katriana Philipenko hit seven three-pointers on Friday night before Sabine Dukate recorded seven from beyond-the-arc on Saturday to move the pair of Saskatchewan guards into a tie for second all-time in three-pointers made in a single game. Philipenko also posted a new career-high in points on Friday with 25 in the victory.
 
8: Philipenko and Dukate sit first and second in the Canada West in field goal percentage through four games, with Philipenko at 63.0 per cent and Dukate with a 61.0 mark.
 
9: It's been a dominant start to the season for the Huskies. Saskatchewan leads the Canada West in points per game, field goals made per game, field goal percentage, three-pointers made per game, three-pointer percentage. The Huskies also sit first in several defensive statistics, including points per game allowed, opponents field goal percentage, opponents three-pointer percentage and steals per game.
 
10: Prior to last weekend, there had never been a triple-double in Cougars women's basketball history. That changed on Friday when Michaela Kleisinger recorded 12 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Kleisinger put on an encore performance for the ages on Saturday night, when she recorded her second triple-double in as many nights, with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Kleisinger was named the Canada West First Star of the Week for her performance last weekend.
 
Scouting the Cougars
 
Regina head coach Dave Taylor enters the 2019-20 season looking to lead his team to their fifth consecutive Canada West conference title game. The Cougars and Huskies have become two of the perennial powerhouses in Canada West women's basketball over the past decade, with the programs combining to win six of the last seven conference titles.
 
However, this is a different looking Cougars team than the one the Huskies are used to facing. Departed from the team are three key pieces from last season's Canada West finalist team in Kyia Giles, Kyanna Giles and Angela Bongomin.
 
New to the program is Emily Dewey, who spent 2017-18 with the University of Nebraska Omaha of NCAA Division 1, she is in her first season with the Cougars after sitting out last season. Dewey, who has started all six games for Regina this season, is the team's leading scorer and is averaging 14.8 points-per-game this season. The 6-1 forward has registered double-digit scoring in each of the team's six games this season. Dewey was a member of Team Saskatchewan's first-ever U15 National Championship in 2014 along with current Huskies Kyla Shand and Katriana Philipenko, as well as current Cougars teammates Faith Reid and Michaela Crone.