BRANDON – The Regina Cougars picked up a hard-fought 72-58 win in the 2015-2016 Canada West regular season opener over the Brandon Bobcats on Friday night.
 
The first half was evenly matched, but the Cougars experience showed in the second half, outscoring the host Bobcats 40-28 after half-time.
 
The two teams traded blows through-out the second quarter, trading leads eight times before Regina entered the half-time break with a 32-30 lead, thanks in large part to a 5-0 run lead to end the second quarter.
 
The Cougars came out gangbusters to start the third quarter, starting the frame on a 13-1 run, but the persistent Bobcats would not got away, battling back to a 45-41 deficit in the third.
 
That would be as close as Brandon would get, as the Cougars outpaced the Bobcats in the final frame to earn the win.
 
"I liked the fact that we had four players in double digits, so having a multi-headed offensive attack, that was the good. Our turnovers were down, which is also good and I thought we did OK rebounding," said BU coach Novell Thomas.
 
"We still have to work for higher percentage shots, we're settling for jump shots a little bit too much and we have got to be better from the free throw line."
 
Keisha Cox collected a game-high 17 points in her Canada West debut for the Bobcats and Alyssa Montgomery was next with 11 points for BU.
 
Lauren Anderson and Amy Williams added 10 points apiece with Williams also grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds to earn her a double-double.
 
Regina had three players in double figures with Alyssia Kajati leading the way with 16 points for the Cougars, who are ranked seventh in the CIS Top-10 rankings.
 
Charlotte Kot scored 14 points and Kehlsie Crone collected 13 points for Regina.
 
The Bobcats will try to split the weekend series with the rematch set for 5 p.m. on Saturday night at the Healthy Living Centre.