LONDON, Ont. - The expectations for Western's women's basketball team are higher than ever, after a demanding preseason schedule that earned them the nation's No. 4 ranking in the first coaches poll of the season.

Still, all roads to the national title will go through Windsor - this year, literally.

Western's 2010-11 Schedule

Windsor will host the CIS National Championship in March and has an automatic berth in the championships with an expanded format in 2010-11.

The Mustangs and Lancers are both ranked in the Top 4 in the CIS to start the season and will play each other twice - Jan. 5 in London and Jan. 19 in Windsor - before the post-season where it is anticipated the teams could meet again for the OUA West title.

This weekend, the Mustangs face their longest regular season road trip as the OUA schedule opens with Western at Laurentian on Friday night in Sudbury and Saturday at York. Both games are at 6 p.m. (NOTE: Nov. 6 Western at York on SSN Canada)

"The overall road trip is the toughest in terms of travel. There are four hours between the schools so geographically it is a challenge," said Western's head coach Stephan Barrie, now in his fifth season at the helm.

They begin in one of the toughest road gyms in the nation - with Laurentian fans famous for their pots and pans and loud noise.

"It's a pretty hostile environment to play in, they have really good crowd support," Barrie said. "And York gave us a good fight when they played us here, and certainly are not to be underestimated."

Western will open its home portion of the regular season on Friday Nov. 12 and Saturday Nov. 13 against Ryerson and Toronto respectively at 6 p.m. at Alumni Hall.

Barrie said he knows it will be important to get off to a good start in the first eight games against OUA East teams in the interlock portion of the schedule.

"We just need to make sure we are doing the things we have learned over the pre-season schedule and if we show we have learned some of those lessons, we will be in pretty good shape," Barrie said.

For Western to compete with the nation's powerhouses - including Windsor - Barrie said the difference this season will be on constant improvement and demanding excellence from his players.

"We have to get better," Barrie said. "We started to figure ourselves out and now it's a matter of applying that knowledge and trying to push ourselves to see if we can get better and how much better we can get in the next month."

The projected starting five of guards Jenny Vaughan, Kelly Moulden, Jacklyn Selfe and Laura Dally and forward Matteke Hutzler will be amongst the best in the nation.

Western's roster is guard-heavy and features four freshmen and four sophomores.

Hutzler, in her fifth year, is the lone senior on the team, while Katelyn Leddy, Rebecca Moss, Moulden and Selfe are the four juniors.

"We are going to go hard and we are going to have high expectations and try to develop the consistency that championship teams need to have," Barrie said.

Western will be able to go 10 players deep, another reason for their high national ranking in the first poll of the season.

"We ranked the second toughest schedule in pre-season, and that is not counting the NCAA games," Barrie said. "Our pre-season has certainly been the toughest it has ever been here. I think people respected that we went out and made sure we played very good competition."

The Mustangs two toughest games on paper in interlock play will likely be against Toronto (Nov. 13, 6 p.m., Alumni Hall) and Carleton (Nov. 19, 6 p.m., Alumni Hall)

"Both of those teams are playing really well," Barrie said.

In the West, Windsor is expected to lead the pack with Western providing their best competition.
"They are the team everyone is trying to knock off. A lot of teams have had solid pre-seasons, so there will be no easy games," Barrie added.

Barrie said one darkhorse in the OUA West could be the Lakehead Thunderwolves, as they have some new additions who Barrie said will help them improve right away.

If Windsor wins the whole OUA, their host berth will be awarded to a wild-card to be selected by a committee - so the OUA would not automatically get the extra bid.

This season, the four conference championships (OUA, AUS, Quebec and Canada West) will advance to nationals with the four other berths will be awarded to the host and winners of three regional tournaments.

The other three seeds at national will be determined by the winners of three regional tournaments. At the conclusion of the conference playoffs, three regional tournaments each featuring four teams from across the country will be held on March 11 and 12 to determine those final three seeds.

The CIS Final 8 from March 18 to 20 at the St. Denis Centre.

Under the new format, Canada West and OUA finalists will host a regional tourney annually while a third regional tournament will alternate between the Atlantic and Quebec conferences.
The AUS silver medalists are slated to host the event twice every three seasons, beginning next spring.

The match-ups for 2011 are:
- CIS West Regional (semi-final match-ups): CWUAA 2 (host) vs. At-Large Berth / RSEQ 2 vs. OUA 4
- CIS Central Regional (semi-final match-ups): OUA 2 (host) vs. CWUAA 5 / CWUAA 3 vs. AUS 3
- CIS East Regional (semi-final match-ups): AUS 2 (host) vs. OUA 5 / OUA 3 vs. CWUAA 4

Western's 2010-11 Home Schedule
Nov. 12 vs. Ryerson, 6 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Nov. 13 vs. Toronto, 6 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Nov. 19 vs. Carleton, 6 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Nov. 20 vs. Ottawa, 5 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Jan. 5 vs. Windsor, 6 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Jan. 8 vs. McMaster, 1 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Jan. 26 vs. Laurier, 6 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Feb. 4 vs. Brock, 7 p.m. (Thames Hall)
Feb. 5 vs. Guelph, 1 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Feb. 12 vs. Waterloo, 1 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Feb. 19 vs. Lakehead, 6 p.m. (Alumni Hall)
Feb. 20 vs. Lakehead, 6 p.m. (Alumni Hall)