LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs survived an early scare, but outworked the York Lions inside to win 83-67 in front of over a capacity crowd at the annual Shoot for a Cure game at Thames Hall on Wednesday night.

Western struggled to score early and trailed by four points after the opening 10 minutes. But Matteke Hutzler took over in the final three quarters dominating inside the paint with a double-double on 21 points and 14 rebounds. Jenny Vaughan of Dundas, Ont., added 21 points and seven rebounds along with six helpers.

Sophomore guard Nadia Qahwash of Kitchener, Ont., led the Lions with 20 points, while senior York guard Brittany Szockyj of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., added 19 points.

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The Mustangs outscored the Lions 38-9 inside the paint and 16-7 on second-chance points. Western also outrebounded York 46-25, including 18 on the offensive glass.

The bigger win on the night, however, was the improved awareness in the fight against breast cancer.
Funds raised in the game are donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Last year, the CIS women's basketball coaches raised over $100,000 collectively from coast to coast.

Mustangs women's basketball head coach Stephan Barrie honoured survivor and local basketball coach Theresa Carriere at the halftime for her contributions to inspiring people to be aware of the need for continual fund-raising and awareness for breast cancer reasearch.

Carriere, who ran 100 kilometres from London to Sarnia, Ont., in June 2010, raised over $175,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation with her OneRun initiatve.

"It's a very special cause," Barrie said. "Whenever you're looking for someone who is an inspiration and who shows you what you can do with will and desire internally and with your friends it's amazing to see what you can accomplish."

"As a group we have raised over $100,000," Barrie said. "I'm proud to part of an organization that is trying very hard to give back."

"We look forward to doing this every year," Barrie said. "It will be a special day a few years down the road as a coaching group when we can say we have raised over a million dollars towards the cure."

Western was cold in the first quarter, making just six of their 15 shots from the floor and shooting just 50% from the line.

They surrendering back-to-back baskets on turnovers late in the quarter.

Qahwash scored four of her seven points in the quarter off those turnovers and Szockyj nailed a trey at the quarter-buzzer as York led 20-16.

Western regained the lead by the half, with nine lead changes in the opening 20 minutes.
Sloppy play resulted in 22 points off turnovers combined. Hutzler led Western at the break with 10 points and six boards.

Western built a lead of as much as nine in the third quarter, leading 58-50 after the third.
In the fourth, Western stretched the lead to its widest margin at 16 points and scored in transition to keep the game out of reach for York.

While the Mustangs were very effective inside, they were ineffective at the charity stripe, making just 39% of their free-throw attempts (12-for-31).

The Mustangs now prepare for a three-game road trip to Eastern Canada where they will face the University of New Brunswick, Acadia and Saint Mary's, Oct. 22-24, before a road trip to play the Oakland Grizzlies (NCAA) on Oct. 29.

The regular season opens on Nov. 6 and 7 weekend at York and Laurentian before the home opener on Friday Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. against Ryerson at Alumni Hall.

This is Western's fourth annual Shoot for a Cure game.

Barrie said he credits the work of the entire CIS women's basketball coaching group, especially Jeff Speedy from the University of New Brunswick who is leading the organization amongst all CIS coaches.

Carriere said she will be running again in 2011 to raise funds and  continued awareness for breast cancer and research.

"We'll be doing One Run 2011," she said. "It's the same run, just this time we're going to run from Sarnia to London. And we're trying to get 100 schools involved. I'm ready for it."

For more information, to make a donation or to read Carriere's story, visit www.onerun.ca.