Box Score LONDON, Ont. – Riding a two-game winning streak that included outscoring their opponents by a combined 63 points, the Western Mustangs women’s basketball team welcomed the Laurier Golden Hawks to Alumni Hall on Saturday for the team’s final home game of the regular season. In a crucial battle for playoff positioning the Mustangs held off a second half comeback and clinched a 75-63 victory.
 
With the win the Western now moves to 11-8 on the season and have sole possession of third place in the OUA West. The Mustangs hold a two-point edge on the fourth-place McMaster Marauders and a four-point lead on Laurier who drop down to fifth with a 9-10 record.
 
With Saturday’s game being the last regular season home game it was Seniors Day at Alumni Hall, and fittingly enough a senior led the Mustangs in scoring with Jenny Vaughan scoring 22 points in the win. Melissa Rondinelli, the other senior player honoured on Saturday, had a strong game as well, netting seven points and pulling down eight rebounds, tying for the team lead.
 
“No team can have success without leadership, and I think with Jenny and Melissa, our senior players, they’ve always led by example, they’ve always held themselves in good esteem and character, and they’re always above reproach,” said Western head coach Brian Cheng when asked what his senior players bring to the team.
 
Western started out strong, spreading the scoring around in the first quarter and going 2-5 from beyond the arc to take a 20-10 lead after the opening quarter.
 
The second quarter unfolded much the same as the first, however Western began to relay on their outside shooting, draining five of eight three pointers in the quarter. Balanced scoring was continued to be the name of the game with three Mustangs (Laura Dally, Annabel Hancock, and Caroline Wolynski) recording eight points while Jenny Vaughan led the team with nine points. After 20 minutes the Mustangs held a 43-28 lead.
 
Despite facing a 15-point deficit the Golden Hawks came out strong in the second half, determined to claw their way back into the contest. It looked like a different Laurier team in the third quarter with the Golden Hawks drastically improving their shooting to drain 64 percent of their shots in the frame. Laurier’s accurate shooting combined with the Mustangs suddenly going cold and hitting only 23 percent of their shots, to allow the Golden Hawks to cut Western’s lead to 54-50 as the quarter came to a close.
 
Both teams started out the fourth quarter trading chances, with Laurier closing the gap to pull within two points just over two minutes into the quarter. Unfortunately for the Golden Hawks that was as they would get, as the Mustangs began to pull away and finished with a 75-63 win.
 
Following the game coach Cheng spoke about the team’s victory and what it means at this point in the season saying “it sounds like a cliché but we actually take it game by game.”
 
“We’re just focused on our team right now, and we’re focused day-to-day and just trying to get better each and everyday. I’m really proud of the squad because I think we’re in a place where we’re starting to perform. People know their roles, the egos are checked at the door, and the effort has turned into some achievement.”
 
The Mustangs will now finish out their regular season on the road, heading to CIS number one ranked Windsor on Wednesday before ending with a rematch against Laurier on Saturday.