LONDON, Ont. - Fourth-year forward Julia Curran scored an impressive 14 points to go along with nine rebounds in Western's 58-48 loss to the Queen's Gaels on Friday afternoon in Alumni Hall.

With the loss, the Mustangs drop to a 1-2 record early in the season and sit in sixth place in the OUA West division standings. The Gaels' win improves their record to 2-0 on the season, as they sit in second place in a competitive OUA East division.

Curran was not the only one to put up a strong performance for the purple and white in the loss, as Laura Graham continued to help lift the Mustangs' offence with a team-high 15 points and an incredible defensive effort.

"Laura put a lot of work in throughout the summer and now she's looking really competent and consistent across the board," said Mustangs head coach Brian Cheng. "You can never question her fight and her will to compete. She's always been so strong on defence, but we've been very happy with her offensive development over the years and this season is just a culmination of all that work she's put in."

"Laura's stepped up on an enormous level for us this season," said Emma Johnson. "She's a great leader on our team and she leads not only on the floor but off. I think having someone who works as hard as she does makes everyone want to get behind that thought process."

Western entered their first home game riddled with injuries with Maddy Horst and Skye Barbato missing from the lineup once again. However, Jade Codinera came off the bench early in the quarter to act as a defensive anchor for the purple and white, forcing two turnovers in her first minute of action. On the other side of the ball, it was Graham who led the way for the purple and white, scoring with ease against the Gaels interior defence. However, a late shooting barrage from the Gaels had the Mustangs heading into the second frame tied at 14-14.

Queen's dominated the fast break to begin the second by securing defensive rebounds and scoring in the paint to build up a lead early in the frame. A scoring drought midway through the quarter from the purple and white allowed the Gaels to extend their lead by converting at the foul line as they headed into halftime with a 33-26 advantage.

But despite their stagnant offence to end the first half, Western came out of the gate firing in the third quarter, holding Queen's scoreless for half the quarter while Curran led the way on offence to cut into the Gaels' lead. Unfortunately, a string of offensive rebounds to end the quarter allowed Queen's to head into the fourth quarter with a 43-35 lead.

Queen's extended their lead once again through the fast break, forcing Western into turnovers and piling up the points to begin the fourth quarter. The turnovers continued to amount and disrupt the Mustangs throughout the frame and kept them from finding their offensive footing in the quarter. Western continued to battle until the final buzzer, but a handful of late injuries to the Mustangs proved too much to overcome as the Gaels cruised to the ­­­58-48 victory.

"It's not easy to start a season shorthanded when you're missing a couple of key players, but we have a good group of leaders that are trying to help the rookies through and I think the experience is going to be valuable for them, not just in this season, but for the rest of their careers," said Johnson.

"The injuries so far have definitely affected us, but when you get injuries, you need depth and luckily we have some," said Cheng. "Unfortunately, a lot of that depth is so young and just isn't ready yet. We had a lot of really talented recruits play for us today, but it's going to take time to get them ready for games like this. They're going to be such good players, but it takes time to integrate them into the system."

The Mustangs will be back in action tomorrow, November 3, where they will host the York Lions in their first meeting of the season in Alumni Hall. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:00 P.M. and fans can catch the action live on OUA.tv.