2000-01 Cougars get call to Sask. Sports Hall of Fame

Women’s basketball team still revered in Regina

Crystal (Heisler) McGregor leads a post-game cheer after a CIAU title win.

The 2000-01 University of Regina Cougars Women’s Basketball team holds mythic status in Saskatchewan’s capital city.

That season the Cougars posted a 30-5 overall record, captured a third straight Great Plains Athletic Conference title and won the first Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union national champion for women’s basketball in the history of the U of R athletics program. The CIAU is now known as U Sports these days.

The Cougars team picture after winning the 2001 CIAU title.

When the subject of basketball comes up among Regina residents, it is common for someone to say, “You should have seen the 2000-01 national champion Cougars Women’s Basketball team play. They were great.”

Sometimes the exploits of forward Corrin Wersta, who was the U Sports player of the year in 1998-99, or guard Cymone (Bouchard) Bernauer, who was the U Sports player of the year in 2003-04, can reach tall tale status.

On Thursday, it was announced the 2000-01 Cougars will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame. It is an honour the team very much deserves.

Corrin Wersta goes up for a score in 2001.

The Cougars will enter the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame with a pretty cool 2021 class. The 2013 Saskatchewan Roughriders, who won the Grey Cup that year at their iconic home park of Taylor Field, are being inducted in the team category as well.

Individual athletes who will be entering the Hall include Saskatoon soccer star Kaylyn Kyle, Moose Jaw’s Justin Abdou in wrestling, Fillmore’s Rod Boll in trapshooting, Porcupine Plain’s Colette Bourgonje in track and cross-country skiing and Humboldt’s Lyndon Rush in bobsleigh.

Former Canadian senior national women’s hockey team head coach Shannon Miller, who was born in Tisdale and raised in Melfort, enters the Hall in the builders’ category. Miller played hockey for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team in the early 1980s.

This class was selected in 2020, but the class announcement and induction was postponed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world. While the 2021 class was named, there won’t be an official induction this year.

Cymone (Bouchard) Bernauer sets for a free throw in 2001.

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame will do the official enshrinement at an appropriate time that allows for safe communal gatherings while following all provincial health guidelines.

Going into the 2000-01 season, the Cougars were well established as having one of the top women’s basketball programs in Canada. They had a huge following in Regina, and fans were constantly crammed into the small main gym at the Physical Activity Centre on the U of R campus to watch their games.

Hoops went up on driveways outside of houses in Regina as little girls started to take up the sport to be like the Cougars. It was common after home games for the Cougars players to be swamped outside of their dressing room by little girls looking for autographs.

Phoebe (De Ciman) Haugen sets on defence in 2001.

The Cougars obtained celebrity status in “The Queen City.”

The only thing that eluded the Cougars was a gold medal finish at the CIAU elite-eight women’s basketball championship tournament. The Cougars finished fourth in 1998, fifth in 1999 and third in 2000 at that event.

The key element that allowed the Cougars to ultimately win the CIAU title game in the main gym at the Van Vliet Complex at the University of Alberta in Edmonton on March 11, 2001 was the fact they enjoyed and focused on the daily journey it took to get there. No matter where the team was during the course of the season, the Cougars always stayed present in that moment.

Crystal (Heisler) McGregor drives the ball in 2001.

Still, there was a sign early on that the 2000-01 campaign could be special. The Cougars opened their regular season schedule hosting the defending CIAU champion University of Victoria Vikes on Oct. 27 and 28, 2000.

U of R swept the series with an 83-75 victory on night one and an 82-69 win on night two. Following the second win, I found myself visiting with legendary Vikes head coach Kathy Shields.

I remember Shields telling me she thought this was the campaign where the Cougars were going to win it all. I took the comment as a complement for the U of R side, because the regular season was only two games old at that point.

Heather (Dedman) McMurray had epic moments in 2000-01.

It also stuck with me that someone like Shields that early in a season would say an opposing team was going to win the CIAU national title at campaign’s end.

With that noted, the Cougars played with great consistency and the wins piled up. In games that were tight, playmakers always seemed to step up on the Cougars side to make the difference in the final two minutes.

The biggest adversity for the team might have occurred away from the court.

While driving to a team practice in December of 2000, Wersta hit a patch of black ice on Ring Road causing her car to slide off the street and roll over. The fifth-year veteran captain had never missed a practice during her time with the team, so the fact Wersta missed her first practice due to a car accident kind of shook up the squad for a short time.

Bree Burgess could drop the threes for the Cougars.

Wersta came away from that accident having suffered a concussion, and it didn’t keep her out of the line up for long.

The injury did prevent her from playing in a tournament in Calgary that was held after Christmas Day and wrapped up before New Year’s Day. The Cougars weren’t at their best in the Calgary tournament winning one of their three games.

At that point in time, head coach Christine Stapleton and assistant coaches Dave Taylor and Diane Hilko did a terrific job of guiding the team through that rough patch. They allowed the players to work through the fact they got spooked emotionally.

Becky (Poley) Schutz was key player for the Cougars inside game.

The Cougars players ended up bonding more closely together, and from the start of January of 2001, they took off posting a 20-1 overall record including a 14-game winning streak to finish off the campaign.

Three of the team’s most memorable wins came in the post-season. In Game 2 of the best-of-three GPAC Championship series, fifth-year guard Heather (Dedman) McMurray hit a body twisting transition layup at the buzzer to give the Cougars a 61-60 victory over the University of Manitoba Bisons and a 2-0 sweep of the series.

Dedman’s score provided one of the most memorable moments ever for the Cougars at the Physical Activity Centre.

The Cougars celebrate Heather (Dedman) McMurray’s buzzer beater.

In a CIAU semifinal contest against the University of Calgary Dinos, the Cougars were holding on to a slim 69-67 lead in the game’s dying seconds. Dinos star forward Leighann Doan was driving to the hoop for a potential game-tying score only for Bernauer to come up with a clutch steal for the Cougars.

A pair of free-throws iced a 71-67 victory.

In the CIAU title game on March 11, 2001, the Cougars faced the host University of Alberta Pandas. The Pandas took a 4-0 edge moments into the contest.

The Cougars GPAC title winning team picture from 2001.

The Cougars responded with an 11-0 run to go ahead 11-4 and never looked back from that point. U of R’s advantage grew to 50-39 at halftime before settling out to a 94-85 final.

The 94 points the Cougars scored to capture the Bronze Baby trophy is still a record for most points scored in a CIAU/U Sports women’s basketball final.

In the 2001 national championship game win, seven members of the Cougars hit double digits in scoring.

Fifth-year guard McMurray led the way with 24 points being named the game’s MVP and earning a tournament all-star nod. 

Cougars HC Christine Stapleton calls out directions from the bench.

She kept making free throws inside the final two minutes of the game, when the Pandas were forced to foul to stop the clock.

Fifth-year forward Becky (Poley) Schutz finished her final game with the Cougars with 14 points. Forwards Phoebe (De Ciman) Haugen and Wersta had 13 and 12 points respectively.

Shooting guard Bree Burgess had 11 points. Bernauer and guard Crystal (Heisler) McGregor each netted 10 points.

Bernauer was named the most valuable player of the tournament and a tournament all-star.

Cymone (Bouchard) Bernauer drives the ball up court for the Cougars.

McGregor, who was one of the Cougars most popular players, would later pass away on May 15, 2014 after an inspiring battle against cervical cancer lasting over two years in length.

She was only 35-years-old – a proud wife (of Paul McGregor) and mother (of Aija and Zayden).

During the campaign, the Cougars received key contributions at different times from Rumali Werapitiya, Jana (Schweitzer) Linner, Leah (Anderson) Levy, Tara-Lee Crosson, Kaela McKaig and Sheena Aitken.

The celebration is on as the Cougars win the 2001 CIAU title.

Trainers Erin Walton and Kate Stefan ensure any time missed due to minor injuries was minimal.

Now 20 years after that campaign was completed, the players from that Cougars team have become successful mothers, lawyers, businesswomen, coaches, trainers and community leaders.

Stapleton coached the Cougars for one more season and is now the director of sports and recreation at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont. Taylor became the head coach of the Cougars women’s team in 2006.

After Crystal (Heisler) McGregor passed in May of 2014, that generation of the Cougars had a reunion for her celebration of life. They have had a few other reunions since that time.

The Cougars raise the CIAU championship banner in 2001.

When the 2000-01 Cougars come together again for their Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, they will again remember McGregor and celebrate all that happened in 2000-01.

They provide the ultimate example of what it is like when a sports team truly does become a family. Their family bonds are ones that last forever.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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CIAU title cemented Cougars as legends in Regina

The Cougars raise the CIAU championship banner in 2001.

For the University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team, the 2001 Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union championship game was going to be fun.

After getting past the University of Calgary Dinos 71-67 in an all-time classic in one tournament semifinal clash, the Cougars settled in to watch the host University of Alberta Pandas take on the Queen’s University Golden Gaels. The Pandas posted a solid 70-62 victory in the main gym at the Van Vliet Complex on the U of A campus in front of a raucous crowd.

As the final seconds of the Pandas semifinal win ticked away, the Cougars players looked at each other taking note of the atmosphere in the building. Then, a light went on.

Heather (Dedman) McMurray drives the lane for the Cougars.

The Cougars realized the national final was going to be your classic road game against a hostile crowd. When they stepped into the U of A main gym for the national final, the Cougars knew they were going to be the outlaws.

Nobody in the building was going to want them to win. After that tidbit was brought up, everyone smiled.

To be fair, the Cougars were going to be backed by a sizable contingent of supporters. When the 2001 CIAU championship game was played, at least 300 out of the standing room crowd of 2,750 spectators were backing the Regina side.

Corrin Wersta, right, was one of the Cougars top players.

In the Saskatchewan capital, the Cougars women’s basketball team had risen to the status of being one of Regina’s most popular teams.

In 2001, you could argue the Cougars status was at the same level of the University of Regina Rams football team, who fell 42-39 to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in the Vanier Cup in December of 2000, and the WHL’s Regina Pats, who were going to host the Memorial Cup in May of 2001.

In 1993, Christine Stapleton, who helped the Laurentian University Lady Vees win back-to-back CIAU titles in 1990 and 1991 as a player, became the Cougars head coach and took on the massive task on rebuilding a proud program that has fallen on hard times.

Crystal (Heisler) McGregor drive up court in the 2001 CIAU final.

Stapleton and her Lady Vees met the Cougars in the 1991 CIAU final and posted a 79-72 victory in overtime. After that game, the Cougars slipped to the status of struggling program.

Arriving in Regina, Stapleton realized the talent existed in Saskatchewan to rebuild the Cougars. She was tenacious recruiter who was able to befriend players and show a genuine interest in their lives.

Stapleton was able to find talented players who were good character persons as well. When Stapleton had to deliver a message that something wasn’t good enough, the players understood where it came from and were motivated to get better.

Phoebe (De Ciman) Haugen had 13 points in the 2001 CIAU final.

The odd time, Stapleton had to give the suck it up and get tough speech. When time came she had to deliver those words, you knew she was right and where she was coming from.

Overall, Stapleton genuinely cared for her players, and the players knew their coach was always in their corner.

On the court, the Cougars played an exciting brand of basketball, where they tried to run their foes out of the gym and burn out the lights on the scoreboard.

Defensively, the Cougars played man defence most of the time mixing in a bit of a 1-3-1 press. The players were so good at one-on-one defence that it became very frustrating to the opposition.

Cougars HC Christine Stapleton call out directions from the bench.

In the 1996-97 campaign, the Cougars made it to first in the CIAU Top 10 rankings for the first time under Stapleton’s watch. They became a powerhouse from that point onwards.

In most games from that point in time, Stapleton just had to turn her team loose and offered encouragement and made adjustments with a smile. She also surrounded herself with great assistant coaches in Diane Hilko and Dave Taylor, which help keep everything moving forward.

All over Regina, hoops started to go up on driveways outside of houses as little girls started to take up the sport to be like the Cougars. 

Cymone (Bouchard) Bernauer, right, drives up court for the Cougars.

It was common after home games playing in the cramped Physical Activity Centre for the Cougars players to be swamped outside of their dressing room by little girls looking for autographs.

The Cougars obtained celebrity status in “The Queen City.”

While the Cougars reached big heights, they still had to work their way through baby steps when they started appearing at the CIAU elite-eight national championship tournament. The Cougars got to nationals under Stapleton’s watch for the first time in 1998 and finished fourth.

The Cougars bench looks on intently during the 2001 CIAU final.

A fifth place finish followed in 1999 before the Cougars captured a bronze medal at the 2000 tournament, which was also hosted at U of A. In the 2000 bronze medal game, the Cougars downed the host Pandas 66-53, so they knew what to expect in the 2001 CIAU final against that same foe.

In finally getting to the CIAU title game, the Cougars weren’t going to be denied. They had too much experience, athleticism and heart.

The Cougars had stars like fifth-year forward Corrin Wersta was the CIAU player of the year for women’s basketball in 1998-99 and sophomore forward Cymone (Bouchard) Bernauer would capture that same honour in 2003-04.

Bree Burgess (#8) had 11 points in the 2001 CIAU final.

Overall, the Cougars had the best depth they ever had in team history in the 2000-01 campaign.

On Sunday, March 11, 2001, the Cougars stepped into the main gym at the U of A and downed the host Pandas 94-85.

The Pandas started the contest jumping out to a 4-0.

The Cougars proceeded to go on an 11-0 run to take an 11-4 advantage and never looked back from that point. U of R’s advantage grew to 50-39 at halftime before settling out at the 94-85 final.

Becky (Poley) Schutz pulls down a rebound in the 2001 CIAU final.

For a lot of the clash, the Cougars held a lead of nine or 10 points.

The 94 points the Cougars scored is still a record for most points scored in a CIAU women’s basketball final. In the present day, the CIAU is now known as U Sports.

In the 2001 national championship game win, seven members of the Cougars hit double digits in scoring.

Fifth-year guard Heather (Dedman) McMurray led the way with 24 points being named the game’s MVP and earning a tournament all-star nod. She kept making free throws inside the final two minutes of the game, when the Pandas were forced to foul to stop the clock.

Heather (Dedman) McMurray (#4) led the Cougars with 24 points.

Fifth-year forward Becky (Poley) Schutz finished her final game with the Cougars with 14 points. Forwards Phoebe (De Ciman) Haugen and Wersta had 13 and 12 points respectively.

Shooting guard Bree Burgess had 11 points. Bernauer and guard Crystal (Heisler) McGregor each netted 10 points.

Bernauer was named the most valuable player of the tournament and a tournament all-star.

McGregor, who was one of the Cougars most popular players, would later pass away on May 15, 2014 after an inspiring battle against cervical cancer lasting over two years in length.

The celebration is on as the Cougars win the 2001 CIAU title.

She was only 35-years-old – a proud wife (of Paul McGregor) and mother (of Aija and Zayden).

Fifth-year guard Cathy Butlin topped the Pandas with 30 points.

With a comfortable lead, the Cougars ensured their most veteran players were all on the court when the final buzzer sounded. When the final buzzer sounded, they stormed the court in celebration along with their family, friends and fans.

The on court celebrations lasted about two hours after the game ended before players drifted to the dressing room to shower and change for the return trip to Regina.

Crystal (Heisler) McGregor leads the post-game cheer.

The Cougars finished the 2000-01 campaign with a 30-5 overall record. They had a 7-0 post-season mark that included a third straight Great Plains Athletic Conference title.

During the campaign, they received key contributions at different times from Rumali Werapitiya, Jana (Schweitzer) Linner, Leah (Anderson) Levy, Tara-Lee Crosson, Kaela McKaig and Sheena Aitken.

Now 20 years to the day of that game, the players from that Cougars team have become successful mothers, lawyers, businesswomen, coaches, trainers and community leaders.

Rumali Werapitiya, left, and Phoebe (De Ciman) Haugen enjoy victory.

Stapleton coached the Cougars for one more season and is now the director of sports and recreation at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont. 

Taylor became the head coach of the Cougars women’s team in 2006.

The Cougars returned to the national final in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2013, but were unable to recapture the Bronze Baby trophy as national champions.

Still, the Cougars women’s basketball program continues to be one of Regina’s most storied teams.

The 2000-01 Cougars are CIAU champions. 

To this day, the members of the CIAU champion 2000-01 Cougars are remember in Regina as legends.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. The video tribute below for the 2000-01 Cougars comes courtesy Becky (Poley) Schutz.

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Canada’s university sports scene still matters

Katie Polischuk posts up down low for the Cougars.

    REGINA - It is crazy to think that university level women’s hoops games played in a small gym in the capital of Saskatchewan about 16 to 20 years ago can still matter.

    If you were in Regina last weekend, you saw one big example that Canada’s university sports teams that play under the league umbrella called U Sports and that entire scene still matters. Last Saturday, the alums from the University of Regina Cougars basketball teams gathered for an alumni and family night to remember Crystal (Heisler) McGregor, who passed away from cancer in May of 2014. 

    The function was held as part of the Cougars hoops games that were played that night against the University of Calgary Dinos.

    McGregor last played for the Cougars in March of 2002, but during her playing days, she cemented herself as arguably the team’s most likable star. She was one of many key players that helped the Cougars rise to national prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which included winning a national championship in 2001 with a 94-85 victory over the University of Alberta Pandas in Edmonton.
    Most of the Cougars home games were played in front crowds that were shoehorned packed into the stands at the small Physical Activity Centre.

Michaela Kleisinger, right, drives down court for the Cougars.

    On the court, McGregor, who developed her love for the game rising in Regina’s minor basketball scene, was known for her deadly outside shot and her tendency to pass the ball.

    Off the court, she was just as well known for her infectious smile, ability to fill any room she stepped in with positive energy and greet anybody with her perky catch phrase, “Hi buddy.”

    After graduating from the U of R, McGregor remained involved in the Regina basketball community coaching school and club teams until her cancer diagnosis in January of 2012. Like many of the players from the Cougars women’s teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s, McGregor achieved celebrity status in Regina.

    Her status never diminished after her playing days concluded, because of how beautifully she carried herself in her career and with the family she started to raise of daughter, Aija, and son, Zayden, with her husband, Paul.

Christina McCusker, right, hands the ball off to Avery Pearce.

    Countless former players, coaches and staffers made it back to Regina for that alumni and family night from all eras, but especially McGregor’s era. 

    Cymone (Bouchard) Bernauer, who was the greatest star of the Cougars women’s basketball team, refers to McGregor as the best teammate and mentor.

    I was also one of the returnees having covered the Cougars hoops teams and helped them with media items during McGregor’s era.

    Even in the present day, the current Cougars women’s basketball team still holds a special place in the heart of the Regina community.
    It seems fitting all of the Cougars players from the Regina area, which comprises the majority of the team, were coached at some point in their lives by an alum of the Cougars women’s program.

Seeing info for fundraisers like this get shredded hurt.

    There is an excitement in the community about the fact the U of R will host the U Sports women’s basketball national championship tournament in 2018.

    That whole weekend reminded me how powerful an impact the university sports teams in Canada can have on their respective communities. The local heroes and role models those teams create are important. Those players also do their part to give back to ensure their local communities remain healthy when they are playing and when they move on to their post-playing days.

    For me in what seems like a more general negative era for the world where the mainstream media in Canada has been slashed to less than skeleton crew size, I feel like I run into way too many people who couldn’t care less about the Canadian university sports scene.

    They think it is inferior because it is not the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States and put me down for wanting to be involved in it at all. They have no idea how much commitment and training the athletes put into being good at their sports and excelling in the classroom.

    As I currently live in Saskatoon, I remember going to a company I was doing contract work for and watched a manager give no second thought to shredding pamphlets and information for the Off the Leash Luncheon, which is a major fundraiser for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team.

My column on Kaitlin Willoughby received praise.

    I know the University of Saskatchewan Huskies athletic program carries a huge importance to the community of Saskatoon, and I have spent a lot of time covering the Huskies men’s and women’s hockey teams and hold them close to my heart.  
    When I saw those Off the Leash Luncheon items get shredded, my heart broke at that moment.

    I have run into people who just couldn’t believe I would spend a Friday or Saturday night at a Huskies event or even drive two-and-a-half hours on the highway to go to a University of Regina athletics event.

    I find the slashed mainstream media treats U Sports as little kids’ sports these days almost to a point they don’t matter.
    Actually, the Western Hockey League beat writer is an endangered species in Western Canada, so you can already see the trouble the university sports scene or any local sports scene faces in battling for exposure.

    Still, I find reminders that even though the negative voices are loud they are also in the minority. The overwhelming positive response to a column I wrote on Kaitlin Willoughby, who is a star forward of the Huskies women’s hockey team, shows there is still a current demand to have local heroes.

    In women’s athletics, Canadian university teams are one of the rare places you can find these local heroes.
    Of course in Saskatoon, you have to give high praise to the Saskatoon Valkyries women’s football team and the Saskatoon Stars female midget AAA hockey team for doing their part to produce high quality role models in women’s sports.

The Cougars men’s basketball team begins to celebrate an upset win.

    Also, one just has to look at the uproar over how the departure of legendary Huskies football head coach Brian Towriss was handled late last December to show how much passion can still engulf the Canadian university sports scene.

    As for last Saturday in Regina, the current Cougars basketball teams added the capper for the packed gym at the U of R’s Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport. The women’s team romped over the Dinos 83-46, while the men’s team pulled out a thrilling last-second 82-81 victory over the U of C.

    That further sparked a celebration from alums to current players that went well into the night.

    U Sports still matters, and that should never be forgotten.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.