After five games at home, the Western Mustangs women's basketball team hits the road again as they head to North Bay to play the Nipissing Lakers on Friday, February 6 before jutting down the road to Sudbury to face the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday, February 7.

The Mustangs went 3-2 on their home stand which saw many players owning their roles on the team. Caroline Wolynski, Mackenzie Puklicz, Maddy Horst, and Victoria Heine all reached new career-highs in points and collectively averaged over 56 points per game. Their efforts were backed by a bench that has also started to come into their own. Meredith McLeod has proven herself to be an effective all-around player whether she's leading the play on point, running fiercely to make herself open, or putting pressure on her defensive pairings. Sasha Samardzija, meanwhile, has become more aware of her surroundings, both in the post for easy hook shots - which helped her pick up nine points in the January 24 game against Carleton - and in the offensive zone where she's been setting up good screens.

For the Mustangs to walk away with a couple of road wins, they will need to maintain the level of offensive power that has impressed over the past five games.

Friday, February 6 - at Nipissing Lakers at 6 p.m. - Watch at OUA.tv

The Lakers are the only team in the OUA without a win, having lost their past two games to Algoma and Laurentian. Claire Abbott is this team's leader, carrying her squad in four key shooting categories while averaging 17.6 points over her last five games. Despite her offensive leadership, Abbott's weakness lies in her tendency to lose possessions, as she averages an OUA-high 6.5 turnovers per game.

Nipissing was not able to reach 50 points in their last three outings. If the Mustangs offence continues to produce, it could pull them healthily ahead of the Lakers.

Saturday, February 7 - at Laurentian Voyageurs at 6 p.m. - Watch at OUA.tv

The Voyageurs won their last two games – both of which were against the Lakers - where Devenae Bryce averaged 20.5 points and shot a little under 50% from the field. Her stats, though, aren't indicative of how her team performed as a whole. The Voyageurs only shot 32.3% across those two games, compared to the Mustangs 47.3% shooting percentage over their last two contests.  

Boyce isn't the only offensive problem the Mustangs will have to deal with. Voyageurs guard Danielle Harris is also a threat, averaging 13.5 points per game. If Western's defence can isolate these two players, a scoring attack led by any of Wolynski, Puklicz, Horst, or Heine could be enough to secure the win.