LONDON, Ont. - Third-year guard Maddy Horst led the way for the purple and white, as she scored a team-high 12 points in the team's 74-45 loss to Lakehead on Saturday evening in Alumni Hall.

Horst added four rebounds, a pair of steals, and a block to help aid the Mustangs on a night where the offense was hard to come by.

Despite the divisional matchup, the game proved to be a tribute to some far bigger than simply basketball, as both teams gave support to London's "One Run" campaign, a fundraiser which supports cancer patients and their families in London and surrounding areas. The campaign, founded in 2010, offers an opportunity to honour those who have lost their lives to cancer and those who continue the fight to this day.

"It's so special to be able to be a part of a campaign such as this. We all have family members and friends who have been affected by the disease and for us to support a wonderful cause like 'One Run,' where the money goes to directly to the patients and their families, is very special. It looks after the people from the London community and the surrounding areas and helps support people in crisis," said Mustangs' head coach Brian Cheng on Western's support of the "One Run" campaign.

With the loss, the Mustangs will drop to 7-7 on the season and will remain one game ahead of the Guelph Gryphons for fourth place in the OUA West division. The Thunderwolves' victory will earn them a 10-4 record in the OUA West division, as they sit alongside Windsor and McMaster atop the divisional standings.

Star forward Leashja Grant led the way for the Thunderwolves with a dominant performance, putting up a massive 27-point, 16-rebound double-double in the team's blowout win.

"Tonight, she just couldn't miss anything. Obviously, you're going to win games when you have a player who can hit those shots as well as pull in defenders and then kick the ball out to shooters," said Horst on Grant's performance. "I think for us, the goal was to not collapse so much on her, but we still had to maintain two defenders on her. They were just shooting the lights out and there's not too much you can do against that."

Following their road win in Alumni Hall just one night prior, the Thunderwolves' offense kept their momentum rolling to begin the opening frame.

Grant, who never really found her rhythm in last night's matchup, dominated the paint early for Lakehead and allowed the Thunderwolves to jump out to an early lead. On the other side of the ball, the Mustangs struggled to find their flow in the half court offense, having trouble finding quality looks against a staunch Lakehead defence. Grant kept the Lakehead scoring alive throughout the frame as the Thunderwolves found themselves with a 16-2 advantage entering the second quarter.

The scoring in the second quarter did not slow down for Lakehead, but the Western offense began to compete midway through the quarter as shots began falling from midrange to help cut into the Thunderwolves' lead. However, the Lakehead shooters began finding the bottom of the net to end the half, as Western found themselves being picked apart from behind the arc as the point differential grew once again.

Grant continued her dominance to begin the second half, as her midrange jumper continued to be a focal point of her offense.

The Mustangs looked to run the fast break throughout the third quarter, but the energy of the Thunderwolves' transition defence kept the Mustangs at bay. Scoring from Mackenzie Puklicz would allow the purple and white to find a solid scoring run, but Grant's scoring proved to be too much for the Mustangs to handle as they headed into the fourth facing a 54-28 deficit.

The fourth quarter proved to be much of the same for the purple and white, as Lakehead went on to take the eventual 74-45 victory.

"We just can't let this loss get to us. That's the type of mentality we need to bring into our game against Guelph this week; we just have to put this one behind us and move onto the next one. We just have to come out, play hard, and play our game," said Horst, looking ahead to Wednesday's matchup.

"We liked how we kept competing tonight. Even though it was a blowout, we kept on wanting to compete and compete the right way, meaning building good habits to bring into our upcoming games," said Cheng.

The Mustangs will be back in action this Wednesday, January 17 when they host the Guelph Gryphons in an interdivisional matchup. The game is set to begin at 6:00 p.m. and fans can catch the action live at OUA.tv.