LONDON, Ont. – First-year forward Julia Curran didn't waste anytime before making an impact on her new team, leading the Mustangs in scoring in Western's season opening 86-53 win over the Waterloo Warriors on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall.
 
Brian Cheng, head coach of the Western Mustangs, referred to Curran as a "generational player."
 
"They come once every ten, fifteen years. Their soul is just to compete, they're so competitive and so internally driven," he said, referring to special players like Curran. "Julia's just gonna keep getting better and better."
 
Curran tallied a big 18 points against the Warriors, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Mackenzie Puklicz and Maddy Horst came in just behind Curran on the Mustangs scoresheet, recording 17 and 15 points respectively. Victoria Heine led Western's rebounding game, grabbing nine boards in the win.
 
Leading the way for the Warriors was Kristen Osborne, who notched 19 points and four rebounds. Jacqui Rodrigues was the only other Waterloo player in double digits with 13 points.
 
From the tipoff, the Mustangs took the lead and never let it go.
 
The accuracy of the teams' shots were relatively close during the first ten minutes. The Mustangs sunk 38.9% of regular shots and 25% of threes compared to the Warriors 33.3% and 25%. However, Western was ultimately able to spend more time near their opponents' basket, take a larger total number of shots, and end the quarter with a 19-9 lead.
 
Behind by ten points, the Warriors determined to close the gap in the second quarter, and pulled within seven points a few minutes in, however the Mustangs only increased their lead from there. At the hoop, the purple and white captured 15 rebounds compared to Waterloo's five, contributing to the 41-20 lead for Western by half.
 
The Warriors came out strong in the second half, scoring the first three points following the break. The momentum didn't last long though, as the Mustangs responded with more baskets including four three pointers by four different players to give Western a 28-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
The Mustangs fought off the Warriors' full court press in the final quarter of the game. Their success can partially be attributed to their increased success in shot accuracy, as they hit 45 percent of their field goals and 40.9 percent of their three pointers when all was said and done, compared to 30.9 and 27.8 percent success rates for the Warriors in the same categories.
 
Following her impressive debut Curran reflected on what will keep her and her team successful in the games to come.
 
"If we build up a lead, we gotta play like we're behind," she said. "Just keep rebounding and boxing out, and if we play hard we'll be successful."
 
Western now gets set to head on the road on Saturday, November 7 when they'll face the Laurier Golden Hawks. Tipoff is at 1 p.m., and fans can watch all the action live on OUA.tv