Box Score Calgary, ALTA. — The first Iniskim Student Game of the year was a thriller, featuring a close match between the Mount Royal University Cougars and University of Regina Cougars women's basketball teams on Kenyon Court. With plenty of middle and high schoolers in the crowd, the two squads put on an absolute thriller of a show, trading buckets back and forth until the very last second. Despite putting up a superhuman effort, MRU took a heartbreaking 76-78 loss to Regina in the first Cougar-off of the season.

With a season-record 1300 fans in attendance, MRU opened the game with pace and energy, feeding off the crowd as Jenika Martens went straight to the rim after MRU won the tipoff. Regina responded immediately and both teams traded baskets with few misses to separate the scoring runs. 

Maddy Hooper, typically a Saturday night specialist, seemed to rise to the occasion as she scored three of her game-high four three-pointers in the first quarter without a miss. With both teams on offensive tears, the first quarter ended with MRU up 27-17.

However, that would be the only quarter of the night where MRU held an advantage in scoring as Regina proved the merit of their conference-topping offence. Jamie Lalor carried MRU's offence in a defensively dominant second quarter; both teams came back down to Earth with their scoring pace as Regina outscored MRU 15-11. Jenika Martens, who led MRU in scoring for the night with 20 points, only managed to score a single free throw in the second quarter and MRU ended the first half with a six-point advantage on the scoreboard.

Martens was on fire for the third quarter, scoring an efficient eight points in nine minutes on a flurry of strong contact layups, but MRU needed every basket just to stay competitive in the game as Regina's Jade Bellmore, Cara Misskey and Izzy Fust all put in huge scoring efforts. Both teams made 10 field goals in the third quarter, but Regina outscored MRU 24-21 after making one more three-pointer and two more free throws than the home team. 

The fourth quarter was a fight to the bitter end with memorable performances from players on both teams. Nora Luca, who had struggled to find a rhythm in the first three quarters, caught a hot streak in the fourth quarter as she dropped seven points on six shot attempts. Martens stayed hot as she scored five points on 2-2 shooting and Hayley Lalor dropped a key three-pointer to help MRU stay in striking distance. Regina kept up with MRU's torrid pace and kept the game tied at 73 with 24 seconds left.

Misskey stole a Jamie Lalor pass and led a fast break, dropping a pass to Rachel Vanderhooft, who Jamie fouled and sent to the free throw line. Despite missing her two other attempts in the quarter from the charity stripe, Vanderhooft calmly sunk back-to-back free throws to give her team a late two-point advantage, prompting Robyn Fleckenstein to use her final timeout of the game to draw up a potential game-winning play.

Coming out of the timeout, Jamie Lalor inbounded the ball to Jenika Martens at the top of the key before cutting behind a Luca screen. Luca flared out to the far wing and caught the ball wide open; despite missing her first three three-point attempts of the night, Luca made the one that her team needed the most and swished home the go-ahead basket to put her Cougars up 76-75. That brought the volume of the fans' cheers to an all-time high and forced Regina to use their final timeout of the game.

With just 18.7 seconds left in the game, Misskey inbounded the ball for Regina only to receive the ball back. She drove to the rim, attracting lots of defensive attention, and as she looked for the pass out, MRU covered reigning MVP Bellmore but left Fust wide open at the top of the key. Fust drained the game-winner with just under nine seconds left and, with no timeouts left for either team, MRU inbounded the ball with urgency. Jamie Lalor pushed the ball up the court and found Jenika Martens, who drove to the rim with strength but could not finish over Fust as MRU lost 76-78 in what may have been the most exciting game of the young Canada West women's basketball season.

MRU will look to exact revenge on Regina as they face off on Friday, Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. on Kenyon Court and live on Canada West TV.