LONDON, Ont. - Fifth-year forward Victoria Heine put up a game-high 19 points and 13 rebounds to help lead the Western Mustangs women's basketball team to a 69-49 victory over the Laurier Golden Hawks on Friday evening in Alumni Hall.

"I thought the team executed the game well; we needed to keep close proximity to shooters, we needed to control their penetration, and secure the boards," said Mustangs head coach Brian Cheng. "We knew if we did that then we would stand a good chance of guarding them and controlling the tempo of the game."

With the win over the Golden Hawks, the Mustangs will move up to fourth place in the OUA West division with a 7-5 record. Laurier's loss will drop them to 6-5 on the season as they narrowly trail the Mustangs in fifth place in the OUA West.

Heine, who led the team on the offensive end throughout the night, put up a season high in points and tied her season high in rebounds in the win.

"Her effort was outstanding. That talent has always been within her, just like everyone else on our team. Victoria can see the light at the end of the tunnel, she's playing her last year out, and she's having her best preparation and practices. All of that shows. She's really been able to expose that talent and tonight we saw that," said Cheng on Heine's performance.

Three other Mustangs scored in double figures, as Julia Curran put up 11 points and six rebounds while Emma Johnson and Mackenzie Puklicz put up 13 and 17 points, respectively.

Both teams showed signs of rust to begin the opening frame following the break, as both sides struggled to get the lid off the basket through the opening minutes. Turnovers and fouls would hinder the offence for the purple and white, but strong defence on the other end would give the Mustangs the early advantage in a low-scoring quarter. Despite the slow start, Western would enter the second frame with a 13-6 advantage following a defensive effort which held Laurier shooters to 2-19 shooting in the quarter.

Despite the Mustangs' defensive fortitude to begin the game, the Golden Hawks began to find their offensive footing to begin the second quarter, beating the Western offence with their half court sets. However, the Mustangs would maintain their lead through the production of Puklicz, facilitating the ball with precision. Laurier's offence would cool off while Western began to catch fire from beyond the arc midway through the quarter with back to back threes, extending their lead to double figures. Johnson, the rookie, would spark the offence late in the frame with a pair of threes, giving Western the 32-18 lead.

Laurier would implement their full court press to begin the second half, but Western's guards made quick work of the press, leading to easy fast break baskets. The Golden Hawks' second unit offered much needed point production off the bench midway through the quarter, but a balanced scoring effort from the purple and white would disallow any sustained run by Laurier. Both teams would struggle to take care of the basketball to end the frame, but fifth-year Heine would continue to aid the offence with a scoring surge to help Western maintain the 48-35 advantage.

Turnovers would continue to be a theme throughout the final quarter of play, as the Western offence cooled to begin the frame. However, the defence, which led the Mustangs all night long, would continue to be the catalyst in building up the lead for the purple and white, as the advantage continued to grow. Heine would hit the dagger three for the Mustangs to put the game out of reach, extending the lead to 23 before ultimately earning the 66-43 victory.

"We just want to keep building on what we're doing and who we are. We were pretty good defensively to start the season, but as a young team we can have amnesia; we're inconsistent. We're making a big commitment to being consistent and today was the first test and we did well," said Cheng on his team's resolutions heading into the new year.

The Mustangs will be back in action this Friday, January 12 as they will host the Lakehead Thunderwolves in their first meeting of the season. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. and fans can catch the action live at OUA.tv.