Haglund, Luoto, Mason, and van Willigenburg introduced a basis for quasisymmetric functions, called the quasisymmetric Schur function basis, generated combinatorially through fillings of composition diagrams in much the same way as Schur functions are generated through reverse column-strict tableaux. We introduce a new basis for quasisymmetric functions, called the row-strict quasisymmetric Schur function basis, generated combinatorially through fillings of composition diagrams in much the same way as quasisymmetic Schur functions are generated through fillings of composition diagrams. We describe the relationship between this new basis and other known bases for quasisymmetric functions, as well as its relationship to Schur polynomials. We obtain a refinement of the omega transform operator as a result of these relationships.