LONDON, Ont. - In some ways, she could be Western basketball’s best kept secret. After a great buzz greeted her when she announced her commitment to Western in the summer, Jacklyn Selfe fell under the radar with the women’s basketball team.

She will play her first game with the Mustangs tonight against the first-place Windsor Lancers and give the Mustangs a much-needed boost with a difficult stretch in the schedule awaiting them. Western plays Windsor, McMaster and Brock in three of their next five games.

“The good thing about Jacklyn is she is not a specialist, she can give us more than one particular thing,” said Western Mustangs women’s basketball head coach Stephan Barrie. “She can give us several things that are going to make a big impact. Her decision making, her passing ability... she can rebound well and she is able to score.” 

“So the good thing is, for her, the pressure is not to give us one particular thing, it’s to give us a bit of everything.”

The 5’11 guard from Burlington, Ont., is a product of the National Elite Development Academy (NEDA) and a graduate of Notre Dame high school.

Selfe and the Mustangs face a Windsor team coming off its first loss of the regular season, an 66-50 loss to the McMaster Marauders.

“The team goal for us is to execute the game plan more effectively than the first time around,” said Barrie. “We did a poor job in many aspects in our last game against Windsor, we need to work on being consistent against not just teams like Windsor, McMaster, Brock and Lakehead, but against whoeever we play.”

“We need to tidy up how we execute the game plan, we have a good month to improve and we have to make sure we do that.”

The Lancers will likely be without the services of sophomore guard Bojana Kovacevic and junior guard Laura Mullins who are both injured. Mullins is definitely out of the lineup, Kovacevic is a game-time decision. However, forward Iva Peklova, who missed the Jan. 6 meeting between these two teams, will likely be back in the lineup.

Barrie said Selfe has a “tremendous basketball IQ.” Able to play just about anywhere on the floor, Barrie said Selfe uses her tremendous court sense as her most refined skill.  

Selfe, who played at Troy in the NCAA, has been coming back from compartment syndrome surgery.  Studying business at Western, she was also a key member of the U-15 and U-17 National Championship Teams in 2005 and 2007 with Team Ontario.  She was also named the 2006 Provincial Championship MVP in 2006.

Selfe will wear No. 13 for Western.

The Mustangs next travel to play at McMaster this Saturday Jan. 23 at 1 p.m.