LONDON, Ont. - With a win at the buzzer against Waterloo last Saturday, the Mustangs women's basketball team secured themselves a spot in the preliminary round of the OUA Final Four Playoffs.
 
In what was their last game of the OUA regular season, the purple and white shot 46.7% from the field, took down 41 rebounds, and worked together for 10 assists. Though their lead slipped away in the final minute of the fourth quarter, the team was able to regroup and get the ball in the hands of Mackenzie Puklicz, who sunk a shot from the three point line to clinch the win and a playoff position for the Mustangs. With Saturday's win, the team closed out the season in third place in the OUA West Division with a record of 7-13.
 
Wednesday, February 25 at Lakehead Thunderwolves - at 6:00 p.m. - Watch live on OUA.tv
 
The 12th seeded Mustangs will travel to Thunder Bay to face the fifth-seeded Lakehead Thunderwolves on Wednesday, February 25 as they kick off the post-season. The two teams are familiar with each other, having played each other less than two weeks ago when they met on Saturday, February 14.
 
In that game, Western suffered a 71-45 defeat where Lakehead guard Jylisa Williams ran up 28 points and 10 rebounds. For the Mustangs, Victoria Heine was just shy of double-double territory with 11 points and nine rebounds. Western's three top scorers - Mackenzie Puklicz, Caroline Wolynski, and Maddy Horst- were stunted to just 17 combined points.
 
The breaking point for Western was turnovers. They gave the ball up 25 times in the game, many coming on shot clock violations. Lakehead was able to convert 22 points of these turnovers to come ahead with a significant lead. The Wolves' defence smothered Western attacks inside the 3 point perimeter, sometimes with double teams, that prevented many shots getting up. To get around this the Mustangs may have to take long shots from deeper in the offensive zone and ensure their bigs have good position near the boards to capitalize on second chances.
 
Defence is also a must for the Mustangs. They will need to find a way to shut Williams down and keep the Thunderwolves in check. The squad has been focused on improving their defensive game in practice, and head coach Brian Cheng notes he has seen a progression in the girls' level of play.
 
"I think there has been tremendous growth," Cheng said. "If you look at our stats from the beginning of the season till now we've seen development in our players. We're a completely different team than we were in the fall."
 
If the Mustangs win on Wednesday, they will visit McMaster on Saturday, February 28 to face the fourth-seeded Marauders. These two teams shared their only meeting of the season on November 26 where the Marauders walked away from Alumni Hall with a 65-51 victory.