LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs strong second half wouldn't be enough to get past Guelph, as the women's basketball team fell to the Gryphons 69-56 on Friday night at Alumni Hall.
 
The Gryphons dominated the first quarter, putting the press on the Mustangs. Guelph's 2-on-1 defence complemented an offence that picked up 25 points for the quarter. Western sunk 7 free throws in the quarter, but only managed to get two baskets from the field - both layups from Caroline Wolynski.
 
"They took it at us, and got some easy baskets," said Mustangs head coach Brian Cheng. "I thought we continued to give effort, but it wasn't unified effort. Everyone was trying to do too much on their own and we saw the product of that."
 
Western began to turn things around in the second quarter, being outscored 16-14 in the frame, but it was in the second half that Western regrouped to put on an energetic display in the second half. Which was never more apparent then when Meredith McLeod twice chucked the ball to Wolynski for good layups. Western outscored their opponents 31-28 in the half, but the damage done in the first quarter would be enough to keep a comeback win out of reach.
 
"We almost made it a game by the end," Cheng said. "Guelph had a tactic that really put all their eggs in one basket to roll the dice and press us. To their credit, we didn't respond very well."
 
Where the Mustangs found most of their success was the free throw line. Western went 21-26 for free throws, including 10 baskets from Mackenzie Puklicz who went to the line 12 times. Puklicz also took down 9 rebounds and grabbed 5 steals. Rookie Alex Van Heeswyk found her place on the court in only her second career OUA contest, going 4-5 from the free throw line and hitting all three of her shots from the field to pick up 10 points.
 
But the Gryphons picked up as just as many points from the line, going 20-29 on free throws. Katherine MacTavish went 9-11 from the line and 13-for-21 from the field to lead all players with 35 points on the night.
 
The Mustangs will be on the road for the next two weeks, with their first matchup coming against the Ryerson Rams on November 12 at 6 p.m. Fans can watch all the action live on OUA.tv