WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Bisons snapped a 16-year losing streak on Saturday night against Regina, upsetting the Cougars 74-67 at IGAC to improve to 3-9. Regina fell to 6-4. The victory – Manitoba's first against Regina since November 30, 2007 – was also tenth-year Bisons head coach Michele Sung's first against the U of R, as a 36-game losing streak was put to bed. 
 
The Bisons controlled play for large portions of the game, and never trailed by more than two points. 
 
Versatile forward Emerson Martin led the way offensively, with a career-high 25 points. Seventeen of those came in the first half, including four triples, as the Dakota product didn't miss from distance at any point in the opening 20, converting on five-of-six in the game overall. It's the second time this year that Martin's made five triples, and she's just one shy of tying her career high of 18. 
 
Senior guard Lauren Bartlett added 21 points, along with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals, while long-time teammate and close friend Emily Johnson recorded her fourth career double-double with 12 points and a game-high ten rebounds. 
 
Manitoba did a great job containing a diverse Cougars attack all evening. The conference's leading scorer Jade Belmore scored 20 points, however she was held to 8-for-24 shooting from the field and missed all eight threes that she took. Only one other Regina player finished in double figures. 
 
The win snapped a seven game winless drought for Manitoba, however four of those games were decided by six points or less. 
 
"We had a pretty long streak of not winning games. They were really close games. I don't think our record really showed what our team was capable of," said Bartlett.
 
"We stepped on the floor today and everybody did their role. We were just really hungry for that win. We all came together, wanted to play hard and got the win. We're all really excited about it."
 
The key moment in the game occurred with 4:26 to play. Regina's leading three point shooter Dayna Pearce, who finished with 11 points, drained her third triple of the game, giving the visitors their first lead since the opening quarter, 62-61. Unphased, the Herd answered back with a 7-0 run and they didn't trail the rest of the way. 
 
Johnson was huge during that span. She had six points and three boards in the quarter, while Martin gave her side the lead back on a triple that was followed up quickly by buckets from Emily Mandamin and Bartlett. 
 
"Offensively, we were a bit passive yesterday in terms of looking for scoring opportunities. I think we played on the perimeter pretty much the whole game and were kind of floating around," added Bartlett. 
 
"Today we were more intentional with our movement and our actions. We were looking to score and to kick out if [Regina] doubled. We played together today. That was a big difference with our offence."
 
Manitoba continues their second half schedule this weekend on the road against UBC.