The Western Mustangs got their regular season schedule off to a good start this past Saturday, with a 58-45 win over the Guelph Gryphons at Alumni Hall.
 
Mackenzie Puklicz led the way for the Mustangs offence, with Laura Graham and Julia Curran also playing big roles in the victory.
 
Head coach Brian Cheng was particularly pleased with Graham's performance against the Gryphons.
 
"She's growing as a point guard each and every day," said Cheng. "She's becoming one of the better point guards in the OUA. She always has the toughest defensive matchups, she defends bigs, she plays bigger than she is, she drives to the paint and she rebounds the ball extremely well. The things that Laura does are far-reaching for us."
 
With one win already under their belt, the Mustangs will be looking to build on that momentum and add two more to their record this weekend against Laurentian and Nipissing.
 
Western vs. Laurentian –Friday, November 11 at 6:00 p.m. – Watch live on OUA.tv
 
The game will be the Voyageurs' first of the season after finishing their 2015-16 season with a 3-16 record. The Mustangs hope to have a similar result as last year's game, as Western came out on top 63-48 in their only meeting of the year. The team will be lead by Jason Hurley, who has been dedicated to Laurentian basketball both as a player from 1992-97 and as an assistant coach for the men's team starting in 2008.
 
Laurentian will be looking to find a new source of offence this season, as leading scorers Danielle Harris and Adrienne Moreau will not be returning this year. But after an impressive rookie season averaging 7.4 PPG and 5.9 RPG, L'Ashante Henry will be looking to fill in for her graduating teammates.
 
Henry's season is already off to a strong start, as she racked up 18 points in the team's final exhibition game against Dalhousie and will be looking put up similar numbers this Friday. Third-year guard Adrienne Bruni also had a strong performance and will be expected to keep that production up with increased minutes this season.
 
Western vs Nipissing – Saturday, November 12 at 8:00 p.m. – Watch live on OUA.tv
 
Much like the Voyageurs, the Nipissing Lakers will begin regular season play when they welcome the perennial powerhouse Windsor Lancers to North Bay. The Mustangs will roll into town on Saturday, and will be looking to repeat the success of last season, when they topped the Lakers 70-59 in early February.
 
Nipissing enters the season coming off of a 2015-16 campaign that saw them go 3-16 throughout the regular season. Guard Claire Abbott is back again to lead the Lakers offence, topping the team leaderboard with 14.6 points-per-game last season. The team also returns their second and third leading scorers as well, with both Jamie Soffer and Alexe Galipeau-Wilson back for another season in North Bay, a year after the duo averaged 6.8 and 6.4 points per game respectively.