Box Score WATERLOO, Ont. - Big efforts from the veterans were not enough as the Western Mustangs 10-game winning streak ended on Saturday afternoon with a 74-73 loss to the Laurier Golden Hawks.

Facing a seven-point deficit with under a minute left in the game, sharpshooter Kelsey Wright and veteran forward Melissa Rondinelli hit back-to-back threes to give Western a real chance of extending their , but the Mustangs would end up one basket short of coming home with a sneaky come-from-behind road victory.

Rondinelli would lead the game in points and rebounds with a 22-10 double-double while wreaking havoc on the defensive end with four steals and a block. Fifth-year guard Jenny Vaughan – Canada's second-highest per-game scorer – finished with 19 points, including 8-of-8 from the free throw line.

The Golden Hawks' Doreen Bonsu led her team with 19 points in only 19 minutes of play off of the bench while also leading her team with eight rebounds.

Western did a good job of shutting down Laurier's starting unit, with guard Laura Doyle being the only starter to score more than six points in the game. Laurier's deep bench – the team used a total of 13 players over the course of forty minutes – proved to be the spark needed to pull out to a lead against a tough Western squad. The Golden Hawks bench players accounted for 41 of their teams 74 points and over half of the team's rebounds.

On the other hand, Mustangs head coach Brian Cheng elected to keep his rotation tight, relying on what has been a winning-core of savvy vets and upstart recruits in guard Mackenzie Puklicz and forward Victoria Heine, the latter of which made a spot-start and played admirably with 13 points and seven rebounds in only 16 minutes.

Though taking a loss – especially in such dramatic fashion – is never the desired outcome, Western now has a firmer idea of just how good the contenders for the OUA West Division crown are. The loss drops Western to a tie with Laurier at 10 wins and two losses each on the season to put them in second in the West division behind the Windsor Lancers, the reigning CIS champions. Before hosting Laurier in London for the final game of the regular season Western will have the opportunity to face Windsor twice, and the team will be looking to make some serious noise against the best of the West in the upcoming month and a half.

Until then, the Mustangs will pack their suitcases and head to the airport for their biannual road trip to Thunder Bay, Ontario for a two-game series versus the Lakehead Thunderwolves on January 17 and 18. Tip-off for both games is set for 6:00 p.m.