Box Score LONDON, Ont. - Having built a 24-point halftime lead, the Western Mustangs avoided a near comeback by the Guelph Gryphons to preserve their 84-72 victory at Alumni Hall.

Veteran guard Jenny Vaughan scored a game-high 29 points, including 11-of-12 from the free-throw line; miraculously, the output was only the third-highest personal total this season for the OUA's scoring-leader.

The Western Mustangs were electric from the opening tip, starting the game on an 18-2 run while the Gryphons scrambled to pull themselves together. Mustang Kelsey Wright was quick to pull the trigger on her deadly long-range shot, nailing a three-pointer on Western's first trip down the floor.

Vaughan scored 10 of her points in the first quarter alone, nearly matching the Gryphons' 11 points in the quarter.

With only 3.2 seconds left on the clock, the Mustangs capped their tremendous first quarter with a mid-court dagger from third-year guard Caroline Wolynski to give the purple and white a 28-11 lead.

While the Gryphons' lagging offence finally gathered some steam in the second quarter, the Mustangs barely missed a beat. With the first quarter's lightning-quick pace eventually slowing down to normal levels, Western actually bettered their first quarter shooting accuracy; the Mustangs' shot 54.1% from the field in the first half while the visitors scraped to a 32.4% rate.

Despite the Gryphon's uptick in scoring efficiency from their poor start, the Mustangs would expand their lead to 49-25 at the half.

Having built a lofty 24-point lead, the game was Western's to lose. To their credit, the Gryphons refused to throw in the towel, battling back to within eight points of the Mustangs; with time running out, the final push from Guelph came too late to capitalize on Western's near-collapse.

Guelph's comeback effort was led by a 23-point, 10-rebound outing for Katherine MacTavish, with three other Gryphons finishing with double-digit figures.

"I thought we came in and we set the tone," said Mustangs' head coach Brian Cheng, "But we started to lose that tone in the second quarter.

[Our success on offence] comes off of our defence. The more relaxed we are on defence, the harder the game gets for us. We went through some ebbs and flows of emotions and I think what our team learned was when we lose our momentum, it becomes a slippery slope."

The Gryphons have fallen on lean times this season, coming into their match with the Mustangs with a 6-10 record in a top-heavy OUA West Division. While seemingly not a contender for postseason accolades, a win against Guelph is a step in the right direction for the Mustangs. The purple and white will look to take this momentum into their last five regular season games.

"We had some opportunities to make some mistakes, learn, and were still fortunate enough to get the victory," said coach Cheng.

The Mustangs' season continues this Saturday, February 1 for a special matinee game at Alumni Hall against the Waterloo Warriors as part of the Mustang Days celebration. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.