LONDON, Ont. - After a lacklustre start, the Western Mustangs exploded in the final three quarters to defeat the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 83-66 at Alumni Hall on Jan. 9.

With the win, Western improves to 8-2 for second place in the OUA West. Wilfrid Laurier falls to 4-6, remaining in sixth place in the division.

Amanda Anderson (Chatham, Ont.) and Katelyn Leddy (London, Ont.) led the Mustangs with 19 and 16 points respectively. Leddy added eight rebounds. Rebecca Moss (Waterloo, Ont.) also had 10 points and eight boards for the Mustangs.

Renata Adamczyk (Greensville, Ont.) led Wilfrid Laurier with a team-best 18 points.

It was a poor start for both teams, struggling early to hit their shots. Laurier's offensive rebounding contained Western's ability to score in transition.

But the Mustangs settled in, going on a 7-0 run to close out the quarter with effective contributions from rookies. Two baskets came from Beckie Williams (London, Ont.), including one at the quarter buzzer, and a trey from Stephanie Lundstrom (Philadelphia, Pa.).

Western led 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Both teams grinded it out in the second quarter, with tough baskets and lots of scrappy play for loose balls on the floor.

An Anderson trey, off a play where it looked like nothing was materializing, made it 24-19 midway through the second quarter.

Laurier was scoreless on seven first-half three-pointer attempts, a major difference early.

Western extended the lead to 28-19 after a Leddy layup with just over three minutes left in the half. Anderson was effective scoring nine points in the opening half, as was Leddy who was particularly noticeable getting her own rebounds. 

She had 10 points and five boards (three offensive) in the opening 20 minutes.

Laurier hit their first two treys of the game first by Mallory Kohlmeier (Sarnia, Ont.) a minute into the third quarter and then by Adamczyk two minutes in, making it 40-29 for Western. It was all the Hawks could do to stay close. 

After a Laurier trey from rookie Alena Luciani (Oakville, Ont.) made it 44-32, the Mustangs responded with two three-pointers of their own from Anderson and Lundstrom to make it 55-37.

Western led 61-41 after three quarters and held off Laurier in the fourth using a steady rotation of subs.
The Mustangs return to the road on Jan. 13 visiting the Guelph Gryphons at 6 p.m. at the W.P. Mitchell Athletic Centre. 

The next Western home game goes Saturday Jan. 16 when the Mustangs host their third annual Shoot For A Cure game against the Brock Badgers. Proceeds go to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation in support of Theresa Carriere's One Run initiative.