SASKATOON – A 13-point advantage after the first quarter gave the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women's basketball team a lead they wouldn't relinquish en route to a 73-59 victory over the Regina Cougars on Friday night.
 
In a battle between two teams that have combined to win six of the last seven Canada West titles the Huskies won the battle down low, outscoring Regina 44-22 in the paint.
 
Megan Ahlstrom tallied a game-high 18 points in the victory, going a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe in the process. Summer Masikewich had a big game for the home team, finishing with 17 points while Janaya Brown was just two boards shy of a double-double, recording 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
For the visitors Macaela Crone had a team-high 16 points to go along with eight rebounds. Close behind Crone was Michaela Kleisinger. Fresh off back-to-back triple-double, Kleisinger finished with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.
 
The Huskies big first quarter run was keyed by some hot shooting. As a team the Huskies hit 47 per cent of their shots while simultaneously playing tight defensively to limit the Cougars to an 18 per cent clip.
 
Regina rebounded however and cut the lead down to just nine at the half on the back of a big second frame from Kleisinger who scored six points and provided three of her assists in the second.
 
A back-and-forth third quarter saw the teams stuck in limbo, with Saskatchewan neither pulling away but also doing enough to ensure that Regina couldn't cut into the lead as the teams entered the fourth with the score 57-46 in favour of Saskatchewan.
 
An early from Saskatchewan removed any doubt from the game as the home team pulled away and salted off the victory by a score of 73-59.

With the win Saskatchewan remains perfect on the season, moving to 5-0 on the season. Regina meanwhile falls to 3-4 on the year.
 
These two teams will be back in action tomorrow night at 5:00 p.m. inside the PAC and that action can be watched live on canadawest.tv.