The Mustangs will be back in Alumni Hall this weekend for their final two games of a seven-game homestand against the Guelph Gryphons and the McMaster Marauders, following a pair of losses to the Lakehead Thunderwolves this past weekend in Alumni Hall.
Western's first meeting with the Thunderwolves came on Friday evening, where the purple and white made doubling Lakehead's star forward Leashja Grant a priority in an effort to slow down her scoring output. Western was relatively successful in stopping Grant in terms of points, but the strategy of doubling in the post made the Mustangs vulnerable to the Thunderwolves' perimeter shooters, as Lakehead shot their way to a 73-54 victory.

The following night saw the purple and white step away from doubling so heavily on Grant and she quickly made them pay with a 27-point, 16-rebound performance. Once again aided by the long-range shooting of her teammates, Grant and the Thunderwolves cruised to a 74-45 victory, sweeping the season series against the purple and white.

Western vs. Guelph – Wednesday, January 17 at 6:00 p.m. - Watch live on OUA.tv

The Mustangs will be entering their Wednesday night meeting with the Gryphons looking to replicate their performance from last year's matchup, as they walked away with the 58-45 victory in Western's home opener.

These two rosters haven't had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with each other too much, as this will only be their second meeting since their opening game of last season. Mackenzie Puklicz found herself stuffing the stat sheet against Guelph in their previous matchup, scoring a game-high 24 points to go along with seven rebounds in the victory, while the Mustangs' defence managed to hold the Gryphons to 43 points on just 30.4 percent shooting from the field.

Although both teams have had a chance to grow and evolve since their meeting over a year ago, the Guelph offence has still found itself to be middling at this point in the season. The Gryphons have sat in the bottom-half of the league in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and points per game, while giving up 18.9 turnovers per contest. Carelessness with the basketball will no doubt be a welcome sight to a Western team which has thrived on the fast break.

The defence has looked pedestrian at times for the Gryphons, allowing 66.9 points per game while sitting at the bottom of the pack in terms of defensive rebounding. However, Guelph has proven their ability to stay in games against talented opponents, as the Gryphons just narrowly fell to the Thunderwolves in both their meetings earlier this season, a team which dominated the purple and white in both games this past weekend.

Guelph will be led by rookie guard Burke Bechard, who is leading the team in points, assists, steals, and rebounds, scoring 12.1 points per game on 40.9 percent shooting from the field. Bechard's impressive stat line be complimented by veteran guard Sarah Holmes. Holmes had herself a game against the purple and white in her last visit to Alumni Hall, putting up 17 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

Western vs. McMaster – Saturday, January 20 at 6:00 p.m. - Watch live on OUA.tv

The Mustangs will be looking to avenge a blowout loss which knocked them out of the OUA Quarterfinals last season against the McMaster Marauders this weekend in Alumni Hall. In their previous meeting, the Mustangs fell 82-54 against a Marauder team led by Hilary Hanaka, who put up a team-high 16 points to go along with five assists and three steals on the night. Julia Curran lead the game with 18 points on the night, but her performance proved to be too little to lift the purple and white into semi-final contention.

McMaster's dominant 17-2 record from last season has had only a slight drop-off this season, as they sit at a respectable 10-4 on the year and hold third place in a competitive OUA West division, two spots above the Mustangs.

Much like last year, the Marauders have dominated opponents by establishing themselves as a long-range threat, sitting second in the nation in both threes made and threes attempted.

The point totals have been harder to come by this season, but McMaster still sits around the middle of the pack in terms of scoring, putting up 69.6 points per game on 38 percent from the field.

The Marauders, although talented, have shown to have a more one-dimensional offence than one year ago, as their three-point percentage sits higher than their field goal percentage, proving an inability to shoot consistently from other areas of the floor. Despite their struggles finding consistent scoring, the consistency of their defence will no doubt prove a challenge to a Western team who put up just 45 points in their previous game.

The Marauders will be led by their senior guard in Hanaka, who dominated against the purple and white in their playoff meeting one season ago and has kept that momentum rolling this season, averaging 16.7 points per game on 46.1 percent shooting. Hanaka will be aided by veteran forward Linnaea Harper, who has put up 13.8 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with 6.7 rebounds per game.