Box Score LONDON, Ont. - A crushing defensive display from the powerhouse Windsor Lancers would lead to an abysmal shooting night for the Western Mustangs – and their third loss in four games – falling to the visitors 49-78.

“They’re a good team. They defend and they can guard. They put the pressure on us. I thought we came out and we were apprehensive. The adversity was hard and at some points we thought it was too hard,” said head coach Brian Cheng.

“We didn’t think that playing the number one team in country was going to be easy.”

Windsor made the Mustangs earn each of their points in the first quarter, playing stifling defence and reminding fans why they are still without a loss in 15 games this season. On the other end of the court, lapses in Western’s defensive rotation would give Windsor several easy baskets and lack of a strong effort on the boards allowed the visitors to jump out to a 17-12 lead after the first quarter of play.

Despite forcing seven turnovers, the Mustangs’ small lineup was able to corral only five rebounds, compared to 16 for the Lancers.
Once Windsor cut down on sloppy turnovers, the Mustangs’ offence shriveled up. Unable to find their usual selection of shots off of perimeter ball-movement and slashing-cuts, Western began to settle for contested looks – and saw their team field-goal accuracy drop accordingly. The Mustangs’ 27.6 field-goal percentage fell far below their team mark of 42.7 – good for second-best in the entire CIS behind just Saskatchewan.

The Mustangs began the third quarter down thirteen points, 22-35. If Western was to ever challenge Windsor’s big lead, it would need to come early on in the second half.

Yet after a brief period of improved play on offence from the Mustangs, everything began to come up in favour of the team in blue and gold, seeing their 13 point lead balloon to 19 points.

Windsor would score 30 points in the third quarter alone – almost as many points as Western had scored in total after quarters.

Undoubtedly, Western will continue to look for opportunities to bolster their seeding-strength for the playoffs, though Windsor – for at least one game – would prove too tough for an overmatched, outsized and outplayed Western squad.

An unlikely shot from an unlikely player showed proof of the expanding arsenal of a young player; first-year forward Mara Greunke – one of the Mustang’s better post-players – looked more like her fellow German-countryman Dirk Nowitzki as she took and connected on a deep three-pointer from the wing for Western’s first field-goal attempt of the game.

All four first-year players – Greunke, Camilla Paluch, Meredith McLeod and Vanessa Barnwell logged significant minutes with the win out of reach late in the game.

If they could not get the win tonight, at least fans would get a good look at the future potential of some of his younger players.

“We didn’t play like a team today and we responded very poorly to how they were putting pressure on us. It was very disappointing,” said Coach Cheng, “but it is a learning opportunity.

"We’re guaranteed to see them at least one more time [in the regular season] and there’s going to be even more adversity because it will be in their gym.”

“We just have to keep working on it in practise and keep trying to get better.”

The Mustangs’ usual offensive anchor, veteran guard Jenny Vaughan had an uncharacteristic outing, connecting on only two of her 12 attempts from the field for a total of five points. Second-year guard Annabel Hancock led the Mustangs in both points and rebounding with 10 and six.

Six Lancers finished with at least eight points, with four scoring in double digits. Similarly, four players tallied at least eight rebounds for Windsor, proving the program to be one of the deepest talent-pools in all facets of the game.

The Mustangs’ regular season continues to wind-down with a matinee game at home versus McMaster Saturday, February 2. Tip-off is at 1:00 p.m.