SUDBURY, Ont. - Only one point and six seconds stood between the Mustangs women's basketball team and a comeback victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs, Saturday night at the Ben Avery Gymnasium. But a steal at the last second sealed the deal for the home team, as the Mustangs took the hard end of a nail biter, 60-59.
 
The heartbreaking defeat puts the Mustangs 6-11 on the regular season, good for third place in the OUA West division. The win for the Voyageurs moves them into a tie for second place in the OUA North division with a 7-8 regular season record. 

Mackenzie Puklicz led scoring with 14 points, while Maddy Horst and Caroline Wolynski rounded out top scorers with nine each. Victoria Heine was dominant on the glass for the Mustangs as she took down 13 rebounds on eight points.
 
The Mustangs struggled to find their groove in the first quarter in both holding down the Laurentian offence and trying to get their shots to land. Western shot only 25% from the field in the first quarter compared to Laurentian's 43%. Those shots that did land came from the hands of Sam Loucks, who picked up right where she left off in the fourth quarter the night before. Loucks would go on to lead scoring for the first half, matching her previous game's total of eight points.
 
The Mustangs also had trouble with turnovers early on in the game. They gave up 17 turnovers in the first half which attributed to 14 Voyageur points. This helped to put Laurentian comfortably ahead of the purple and white 30-19 after the first half.
 
But the tide started to turn after the break for Western, who started to find their offensive rhythm. Horst and Wolynski, who had been held pointless in the first half, came to life after five minutes into the third quarter with a drive and kick play that pulled the lead back into single digit territory. Despite their play, though, the Laurentian offense seemed to always counter as the teams went shot-for-shot until Horst and Puklicz went on a 7-0 run in the last minute of the quarter to put the Mustangs within six, 45-39.
 
The Mustangs started off the fourth quarter with Meredith McLeod stricking a 3-pointer in the first minute which was quickly followed by Wolynski grabbing the Laurentian inbound pass and quickly putting up a layup to put the lead within one point. The Voyageurs fought hard to keep their lead through the quarter, but couldn't hold Western at bay. With 1:17 left on the clock, Laurentian forward Devenae Bryce fouled Puklicz, who went to the line and sunk two free throws to keep her team on the Voyageurs' heels. Laurentian's Danielle Harris took the following inbound all the way down the court and tried for a deep three, that bounced off the top of the backboard and led to a Western possession. Head Coach Brian Cheng took a time-out to bring the ball back down to his squad's offensive zone with 24 seconds on the clock to hope for a final game-winning attack.
 
With the seconds winding down, Puklicz put up a close jumper that didn't land, but made it to the hands of Heine for the offensive rebound. Heine's attempt at a shot rolled off the glass right back to Puklicz who stuffed it into the net to take the lead, 59-58 with nine seconds remaining.
 
A Laurentian time-out took the ball back to their side of the court for a last attempt at taking the game. Bryce took the ball and ran it up the middle lane, right into a blockade of Western bodies. The contact was enough to draw a hard foul and a trip to the foul line, where Bryce sunk both of her shots to take back a one-point lead with six seconds on the clock.
 
In the dying seconds of the game, with no time-outs left for Western, the team left it up to Wolynski who took the inbound pass and rushed to the other end of the court. Her layup attempt was stopped short, though, by Laurentian's Adrienne Moreau, who stripped the ball with tenths of seconds left on the clock. With ball possession out of Western reach, the Mustangs would end up with the 60-59 loss.
 
The Mustangs will head north to Thunder Bay to take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Saturday, February 14. The game is set for 6:00 p.m. and can be caught on OUA.tv.