WINNIPEG — The Manitoba Bisons women's basketball team met the Saskatchewan Huskies at the Investors Group Athletic Centre Friday night for the first of two weekend games.

The Bisons entered action trying to snap an 18-game losing streak to Saskatchewan that dates back to the 2009-10 season.

The first-place Huskies ended those hopes with a 94-50 defeat of the home team.

"This has been a tough place for us to play over the years," Huskies head coach Lisa Thomaidis said. "We knew we needed to bring some focus coming into tonight's game and I think we did a good job of that."

Relentless pressure on defence and a barrage of three-pointers got the Saskatchewan offence out and running early in the first quarter. Despite trailing 23-14 after the first, the Bisons outrebounded the Huskies 12-9.

Saskatchewan extended their lead in the second quarter and carried a double-digit lead into the halftime break. Manitoba's Lovisa Fjellner came off the bench to snatch nine rebounds in the half to lead all players and Autumn Agar dished out two assists to tie her for the game's lead.

The Bisons offence got rolling out of the break, led by Emerson Martin's five third quarter points, but it wasn't enough to slow down the Huskies, who shot 50.7 per cent from the field for the game.

Emily Johnson led the Bisons with nine points and Fjellner finished the game three points shy of her first Canada West double-double.

"(Lovisa's) game surprised nobody in our room," said Bisons head coach Michelle Sung. "She's got a great instinct that helps her thrive in games like this."

Saskatchewan's Carly Ahlstrom led all scorers with 29 points and added 11 rebounds.

The Bisons will look to better their fortunes when the teams meet again Saturday night at Investors Group Athletic Centre.

"We're playing one of the best teams in the country and we need to get excited about that opportunity," said Sung.

Saturday's rematch will begin at 5 p.m. and be the Bisons third last game of the regular season.