The post-season has arrived for the Western Mustangs, with the purple and white set to head to the nation's capital for an OUA Preliminary Round playoff matchup against the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Western finished the regular season with an 8-12 record, putting the Mustangs in third in the OUA West, and as the 11th seed on the league's RPI.

Mackenzie Puklicz led the Mustangs offence throughout the regular season, finishing the year with 15.3 points per game. Julia Curran, who's topped the Western scoresheet in two of the team's last three games, is next up with 14.2 points per contest, while Victoria Heine is third with 10.1

The same trio also leads the Mustangs rebounding efforts, with Heine and Curran topping the charts with 7.9 rebounds per game, while Puklicz records an average of 6.0.

Western vs. Ottawa – Wednesday, February 22 at 7:00 p.m. - Tune in live on OUA.tv and CHRW Radio

Western will begin the post-season with a matchup against the 13-6 Ottawa Gee-Gees, a team who ended the season in second place in the OUA North and as the fifth seed for the Critelli Cup Playoffs.

The two teams are no strangers to one another, with the two sides facing off on January 27, when the Gee-Gees escaped Alumni Hall with a 53-50 victory. If that first meeting was any indication, the Mustangs could very possibly find themselves moving through the playoffs with a first-round upset.

Two areas in which Western will look to improve upon from their previous game against Ottawa will be limiting turnovers and finding consistent shooting. The Mustangs turned the ball over 20 times and had difficulty executing against the perimeter pressure of the Gee-Gees, but kept themselves in the game by utilizing their size advantage over Ottawa's five-guard lineup.

Ottawa has consistently been one of the U Sports' best defensive teams, using the speed of their smaller lineup to antagonize opposing guards. But in spite of their ability to defend the perimeter, the team has sat around the middle of the pack in rebounding and shot blocking all year. With the ever-present duo of Curran and Heine in the front court for the Mustangs, Western could be in position to gain an even bigger edge in terms of size in their opening game of the playoffs.

The Gee-Gees will be led by guard Sarah Besselink, who has averaged 13.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game for the Gee Gees. Besselink, the anchor for this Ottawa team this year, has begun to heat up in terms of scoring heading into the postseason, finishing with 18 in the team's latest victory over Ryerson.

While Ottawa will be led by Besselink on the court, they'll also have hometown head coach Andy Sparks at the helm this Wednesday. Sparks has been leading the program since the 2008-09 season and has yet to miss the postseason thus far. The Ottawa native has led the program to five CIS national championship appearances and four OUA Final appearances, and will look to use that experience on Wednesday night as the playoffs begin.