With the OUA Women’s basketball playoffs finally upon us, it matters less about what a team has done in the past and becomes more about how they can answer questions in the present. Can a team hang tough in a shrinking field of talented postseason competitors? Or will Western, like teams before it become the next squad to be eliminated from title contention, left to dream about the season to come?

At the end of the regular season, every team begins with the same record: no wins, no losses and plenty to prove.

However, when the Laurier Golden Hawks come to town Wednesday night, it will be a matchup featuring two teams with an extensive recent history. The clash will be the teams’ third matchup in four games – the rubber-match after each team clinched a win on their home court. The final game of the regular season saw the Mustangs lose by a single point at Laurier in a hard-fought, defense-heavy tilt that came down to a basket in the final seconds.

Head coach Brian Cheng’s Mustangs have proven they can score with the best teams in the OUA; their offence ranks fourth in the division with 67.7 points per game, boosted heavily by veteran guard Jenny Vaughan’s league-leading 19.8 points per game.

Laurier provides the perfect foil to Western with their fifth-best OUA defence. The Golden Hawks allow a paltry 62.5 point per game, anchored by Whitney Ellenor’s Canada-leading 1.8 blocks per game and Doreen Bonsu’s 8.1 rebounds per game.

Both teams seem to have found the formula to beating their adversary; all that is left to do is execute the game-plan, connect on shots and make defensive stops. Whichever team makes fewer mistakes will be the team moving on to a date with either Canada’s top-ranked Windsor Lancers or the nearly-as-formidable Brock Badgers.

Now is the time to for coach Cheng’s team to focus in on the task at hand and a win in the playoffs this year would be an excellent reward for a Mustangs squad that has bought into coach Cheng’s team-first approach.