Box Score LONDON, Ont. - With the wind at their back and some skip in their step, the Western Mustangs rode their fast-paced offence to a commanding 87-59 victory over the visiting Waterloo Warriors.

After a lop-sided loss to the undefeated Brock Badgers in the previous match-up and a near-collapse at Guelph before that, the Mustangs wanted to right the ship against a winless Waterloo team.

“We wanted to share the ball in the half-court [offence]. We’ve always wanted to do well in transition. I think a lot has to do with the fact that they turned the ball over 37 times, which led to a lot of fast-breaks,” said Western head coach Brian Cheng on the game’s turning-point.

Waterloo struggled greatly with ball control from essentially the tip-off onwards, much to Western’s delight.

“When teams turn the ball over, we’re going to try and run and take advantage of that.”

Early on, the hometown Mustangs were playing a cut above their visiting opponents. An aggressive full-court press and some high-energy play would close up the passing lanes and force multiple time violations and errant passes. Waterloo would turn the ball over a shocking 17 times in the first half as Western zoned in on the Warriors’ deficiencies.

The offensive-end would fare just as well in the first half for Western, hitting threes at a 40% clip while mixing in some slashing play from veteran point-guard Jenny Vaughan and a host of others. Without a steady post-threat, Western would elect to keep their offensive possessions short and fast, finding opportunities for easy points by exploiting Waterloo’s transition defense.

Vaughan seemed to be aiming for the top of the OUA scoring-title race after a huge 15 point half, including six of eight from the free throw line. Vaughan sat behind just Laurentian’s Sasha Polishchuk with 18.3 points per game heading into tonight’s contest.

“[Polishchuk] is a great one on one player so I’m just trying to keep it close,” said Vaughan with a laugh.

“Obviously our team winning is the utmost importance. I’m just trying to play my best basketball right now so if that means scoring more – that’s great – if that means making more plays for others, whatever it takes to make our team win.”

What allowed Waterloo to hang on to only a 42-35 halftime deficit would once again be Western inability to clean up on the boards. With the Mustangs’ usual starting forward Jory McDonald still nursing a day-to-day injury, the onus fell upon the team to deny second-chance scoring opportunities off of easy offensive rebounds for the Warriors. Waterloo’s 22 rebounds easily out-paced the Mustangs’ 14 at the half.

The Warriors would never challenge the lead in the second, allowing Western to move to six wins, four losses for the season. The Mustangs now sit in third place in the OUA West behind the still-undefeated powerhouse Brock and Windsor squads.

Vaughan finished with 23 points on eight-for-14 shooting from the field and a game-high seven steals. Second-year Annabel Hancock added 15 points, including three from beyond the arc and veteran Laura Dally scored 14 points of her own while returning to the starting line-up.

Sweden’s Erika Persson led the Warriors with 16 points while Waterloo’s Gia Spiropoulos finished with a game-high eight rebounds.

Waterloo becomes another stepping-stone in a season of growth for coach Cheng’s team.

“I thought we needed to get a good win. I thought there were times we did good things and we’re still trying to get forty minutes of good consistency,” said Cheng.

The Mustangs now head to Hamilton this Saturday to take on the McMaster Marauders, completing their fourth game in ten days in what has been the densest part of the season so far. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m. with the men’s game following at 8 PM.