LONDON, Ont. - After going 7-1 in interlock play to start the 2009-10 season, the Western Mustangs women's basketball team prepares for their biggest test of the year when they travel to face defending OUA champs, the Windsor Lancers.

The Mustangs visit the 8-0 Lancers on Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. at the St. Denis Centre and are fresh off a holiday trip to play a series of exhibition games in Florida.

"We feel very good because the girls are understanding they need to keep working and get better and that has not been difficult to get across," said head coach Stephan Barrie.

"We are pleased with how we've come together with a lot of new faces," Barrie said. "But we know that there's still a long way to go and a lot of room for improvement. We feel pretty good things entering the second half of the season."

Barrie said he is not surprised about the early success because he knew he had players who "really bought in."

"So, certainly, when everyone's on the same page you can achieve a fair bit. You could see that from the summer trianing. I wasn't sure how we'd do losing the number of kids we did (after 2008-09), but we have buffered that blow fairly well."

All of Western's games in 2010 will come against OUA West opponents. The Mustangs will also add former NEDA player and Troy transfer Jacklyn Selfe (Burlington, Ont.) to the mix in 2010.

Play against opponents in the West will be a challenge in a division with a great deal of parity.

"The league, both leauges have had so much turnover, that I think teams are adjusting to new personnel and players in new roles, so both sides will experience better play in the second half," Barrie said of the OUA East and West conferences. "The West is going to be really strong, there will be tough games. The east will improve as well as teams figure themselves out a bit."

After playing at a tournament at Florida Brouward College in Fort Lauderdale over the holidays - the team played three games and trained and Barrie said used the week to get energized - before their tough game on the road at Windsor."

"There have been a lot of people who are living up to expectations," Barrie said of the Mustangs in the first half. "We're going to have to improve our rebounding and tidy up our defence a bit, without question."
The loss of seniors Deena Kurilsky, Megan Lapointe, Nadine Paron, Kim Hurley and Bess Lennox after the 2008-09 season left a big gap - particularly inside. 

"Certainly the one thing we are missing the most is Bess's rebounding and defence," Barrie said. "We've recovered from all the losses from other people with out skipping a beat in terms of offence and scoring, but defence and rebounding is going to have to be where we're better."

Barrie knows the Windsor game, the first regular season game in over a month, will be important to gauge where the team sits in the mix in the OUA West.

Western returns home to host Wilfrid Laurier on Jan. 9 at 1 p.m. at Alumni Hall.