NORTH BAY, Ont. - Second-year forward Debora Kamba scored a team-high 14 points to help lead the Western women's basketball team in their 70-53 road loss to the Nipissing Lakers on Friday evening.

The loss dropped the purple and white to a 1-9 record on the season as they remain in ninth place in the OUA West division standings. Nipissing's victory marked their first of the year, as they improve to a 1-8 record on the season and remain at the bottom of the OUA East standings.

The Mustangs hung around throughout much of the first half behind the solid play of a pair of starting rookies in Nellie Larjava and Jenna Lawrence. Both teams got out to a quick start offensively to begin the game, as strong all-around play from the purple and white left them facing a slim 18-16 deficit heading into the second frame.

However, despite their ability to hang around in the opening quarter, the Lakers' Natalie Martinez helped Nipissing extend the lead early in the frame, sparking a scoring run that left Western trailing 33-25 heading into halftime.

The stagnant end to the first half continued in the second for the Mustangs, as Nipissing outscored Western 16-8 in the third frame to run away with the game, despite Kamba's impressive second-half performance. The Western offence, which produced well to begin the game, simply seemed to run out of gas in the third, as Nipissing dared the purple and white to shoot from distance.

The poor shooting from beyond the arc seemed to hinder the Mustangs' offence for the remainder of the game, as the Lakers simply packed the paint with defenders and negated Western's post game. The lockdown defence from Nipissing throughout the second half was the key in earning the eventual 70-54 victory.

The Mustangs will be back in action tomorrow, December 1, where they will end their road trip with a meeting against the Laurentian Voyageurs in what will be their first meeting of the season. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:00 P.M. EST and fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv.