LONDON, Ont. – In a battle of youth versus experience, it was experience that won as the Western Mustangs women's basketball team's push against the Queen's Golden Gaels came up just short in a 86-72 loss Saturday at Alumni Hall.
With the loss, the Mustangs finish a five-game home stand with a 3-2 record. Overall, they're 5-10 on the season and sit in third place in the OUA West Division. The Golden Gaels improve to 9-4, still behind Ryerson in the OUA East.
It was another night of high offensive production for the Stangs, with three of their starters putting up double digits in points. Maddy Horst led the way with a season and career-best 23 points as she shot perfect from the free throw line and 56% from the field. For the third time on the home stand, Caroline Wolynski shot into the 20-point bracket, amassing 21 on 9 rebounds. Victoria Heine chipped in with 18 points and 8 rebounds to amass a total of 39 points over her last two games.
According to head coach Brian Cheng, the team has started to coalesce and find their identity after a starting the season in a prolonged storming session.
"We're starting to know who we are. [The team] has some security. They're not looking behind their back anymore. They're not looking over their shoulder, and I think that's helped build stability," Cheng said.
The Gaels were able to stunt the Mustang offence early on by executing a series of press attacks, making it difficult to set up a play. When the press was ineffective, Queen's guard Emily Hazlett made herself a nuisance in the lanes by intercepting passes that converted for good Gaels points. At the end of one quarter, the Gaels had nearly doubled up on the Mustangs, 24-13.
While the second quarter still saw the Gaels leading 41-30, the stats looked fairly similar. The Mustangs gave up just three more turnovers at the half, and shot 43% compared to Queen's 48% from the field. Both teams had 18 rebounds and 8 steals, and put up 17 points in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, the Gaels caught on to Wolynski's offensive prowess, as Abby Dixon stuck to her like glue, often accompanied by another for the double team effort. But that didn't stop the 5'9" guard from making drives to the basket. The aggressive take on Wolynski helped the Gaels max out their fouls, putting the Mustangs in bonus territory. But they failed to capitalize at free throws line, where they struggled all night, helping the Gaels inch up their lead by 16 at the end of three with a score of 59-43.
The fourth quarter saw the Stangs push back in waves, clawing to get the Gaels' lead below the double digit mark. The energy and intensity never escaped the home squad, who put together great scoring plays while still down 15 points in the dying minutes of the game. But every time the Mustangs clawed, the Gaels stretched the lead back, eventually grinding out an 86-72 victory.
Coach Cheng credits a solid veteran Queen's team, but also knows that his team walks away from the loss learning the importance of resilience.
"We just chipped, we chipped," Cheng said post-game. "Can we be more effective in what we're doing technically in terms of our defence? Well, yes. But what we saw today was a good, experienced team beating a good young team."
The Mustangs are back on the road next week. They will face the Nipissing Lakers on Friday, February 6, and then travel to Laurentian to visit the Voyageurs on Saturday, February 7. Both games start at 6 p.m. and can be streamed live on OUA.tv.
