A second-half surge lifted the Brandon Bobcats over Winnipeg in the Wesmen home-opener Sunday night.

The Wesmen had an 11-point lead early in the third quarter, but a 17-3 run in less than five minutes helped the Bobcats to a 77-65 win in Winnipeg's Canada West conference opener at the Duckworth Centre. 

Winnipeg led 33-26 at the half and scored the first four points of the third before Brandon found another level, holding Winnipeg to 1-for-9 shooting over a stretch of 4:47 while shooting 3-for-4 from three in the same span.

Raia Guinto had 28 points — one shy of her career-high — to lead the Wesmen, while Carmen Hiebert had a career-high 15 rebounds in the loss.

The Wesmen fell behind by 14 late in the fourth quarter but gave themselves a sliver of hope with a quick 6-0 run over 1:34 that cut it to eight with 1:05 to go. Winnipeg, however, was held scoreless the rest of the way.

Jennifer Kallon added 15 points, nine rebounds and five steals for the Wesmen, who will head to MacEwan for a pair of games over Halloween weekend.

Macaya Copeland led three Bobcats in double figures with 22 points. Jayna Maytwayashing and Ella Averill both had 15. 

The Bobcats moved to 2-0 on the season after defeating Manitoba in Brandon on Friday.