NORTH BAY, Ont. - In their first-ever OUA regular season meeting, the Western Mustangs women's basketball team welcomed the Nipissing Lakers to the league by putting up a season-high 96 points to start their northern road trip with a 96-38 victory at the RJS Student Athletics Centre, Friday night.
 
With the win, the Mustangs record bumps up to 6-10 to hold on to the 3rd spot in the OUA West Division. Nipissing, who is in their first year of OUA play, remains winless at 0-14 and sits at the bottom of the OUA North.
 
Mackenzie Puklicz led scoring with 27 points, Victoria Heine came up with 16, while Maddy Horst and Caroline Wolynski rounded out the top scorers with 12 points each.
 
Nipissing had their work cut out from them in facing a Mustangs team that has played well in the last month thanks to big production from their starters Wolynski, Puklicz, Horst, and Heine. Additionally, four Lakers sat out of the matchup due to injury and ineligibility, leaving only six players available for the contest. But despite having this advantage over their foes, it wasn't an easy start for Stangs, who had trouble getting their shots to land in the first minutes of play.
 
But Western soon found their footing, and figured their way out around the Lakers defensive press easily to settle in for good baskets. At the end of the half, Heine had 14 points followed closely by Puklicz with 12. While Nipissing's Claire Abbott countered with 16 points of her own, it wouldn't be enough to stop the Mustangs from breaking away with a 46-25 lead.
 
As impressive as their first half was, the second half is where the Mustangs outed themselves as the dominant team. The third quarter started with a 24-0 run against the Lakers. From there, the Lakers could only muster 8 points, as the quarter closed off with Western ahead 39.
 
Despite a comfortable lead, the purple and white showed no easing up in the fourth quarter. They put up 24 points in the last frame, thanks to an assertive output from the bench in Sam Loucks and Julia Tennant, who combined for 10 points in the dying minutes. More impressive, though, was the defence that swarmed any Nipissing offensive to limit the Lakers to 5 points on the quarter, and 13 for the half. The Mustangs finished this one out with a 58 point cushion, and a final of 96-38.
 
The squad plays again tomorrow and does not have far to travel when they head to Sudbury to meet the Laurentian Voyageurs. Game time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. and can be caught live on OUA.tv.