LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs women’s basketball team will travel east down Highway 401 Wednesday Jan. 13 to take on the Guelph Gryphons at 6 p.m. at the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Centre.   

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The Mustangs will look to build on their convincing 83-66 win Saturday Jan. 9 against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. They currently sit in second place in the OUA West at 8-2, two games behind the division-leading Windsor Lancers and a game up on the third-place Brock Badgers. 

Amanda Anderson (Chatham, Ont.) led the team with 19 points in the win Saturday Jan. 9 and she is currently fifth in the OUA averaging 17.5 points per game. Katelyn Leddy (London, Ont.) is tops on the squad with 6.2 rebounds per game and is contributing well offensively, averaging just under 10 points per game as well. 

Western Mustangs head coach Stephan Barrie said he is proud with the Mustangs recent efforts, but knows they have areas to improve on to remain in the elite of the OUA West for the remainder of the season.  

“We need to continue improving on our focus points which is rebounding right now front and center,” he said. “We still feel we have a lot to prove, many people thought we were going to be, at best, middle of the pack in the OUA West. I think we are pretty motivated to prove those people wrong.”

The Mustangs look to shut down Jasmine Douglas (Guelph, Ont.) and Alex Russell (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) for the Gryphons who are averaging 13.8 and 10.4 points per game respectively. The Gryphons are coming off a big comeback win against Waterloo and coach Barrie said he believes they shouldn’t be taken lightly. 

“They have some talented forwards and we must ensure we take away some of the things they do well to be successful,” Barrie said. 

Guelph is currently tied for last place in the OUA West at 2-8. This is the first matchup this season between the two teams with Guelph coming to play Western at Alumni Hall on Feb. 6. 

Following this contest, the Mustangs women will host the third annual Shoot for a Cure game to raise funds for breast cancer research. The game is schedule for Saturday Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. at Alumni Hall. Proceeds from the event will go to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation in support of Theresa Carriere’s One Run campaign. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here, and prices are $8 for adults, $5 for non-Western students and seniors, and by donation for Western students.