GUELPH, Ont. – A double-double performance from Victoria Heine helped lead the Western Mustangs to the second round of the OUA playoffs with a 72-68 win over the Guelph Gryphons on Wednesday night at the Gryphons Athletic Centre.
 
With the win the Mustangs will now move on to the OUA Quarter-finals where they'll meet up with the McMaster Marauders on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Hamilton.
 
Heine racked up 21 points on 9-14 shooting with three free throws and also led all players with 14 rebounds in the win. Fellow forward Julia Curran topped both sides of the scoresheet with 22 points on 6-14 shooting with 10 free throws, while Mackenzie Puklicz and Maddy Horst added 17 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Third-year guard Sarah Holmes led the way for the Gryphons with 21 points on Wednesday, including going 5-9 from three-point range. Ashley Wheeler was next up with 14 points and was followed by Burke Bechard who scored 12.  
 
The Mustangs started things out with a slight advantage over the Gryphons, kicking things off with a three from Puklicz on their way to a 9-5 lead after the first three minutes of the contest.
Western maintained their advantage through the majority of the frame thanks in part to strong three-point shooting from Puklicz and Horst.
 
Holmes wouldn't let her side fall too far behind however, and her 12 points in the opening 10 minutes helped the Gryphons claw their way back to cut Western's lead to 23-21 heading into the second quarter.
 
The Gryphons tied things up early in the frame and play was even from there, with Curran and Puklicz combining for 11 of the Mustangs 15 points to take a 38-34 lead at halftime.
 
Julia Kokonis dominated the scoresheet in the early minutes of the second half, starting things off with a three pointer before going on to score six of the Gryphons first eight points to pull Guelph to within two. A jumper from Bechard tied things up before Ivana Vujadinovic put the Gryphons in front midway through the quarter.
 
It proved to be a back-and-forth affair for the remainder of the frame, with both sides trading baskets until Ashley Wheeler connected from beyond the arc to put Guelph up 53-48 after 30 minutes.
 
Fittingly given the close scores of each of the regular season contests between the two sides, Wednesday night's game came down to the wire, with neither side holding a significant advantage throughout the fourth.
 
Heine put Western in front with just under 90 seconds remaining, grabbing an offensive rebound and tipping the ball into the net to make it 69-68 for the Mustangs. The stage was set for a thrilling finish, and after a free throw from Puklicz put Western up by two with 10 seconds remaining the Gryphons had one more possession.
 
Unfortunately for the home side an offensive foul ended their chances, and two more free throws by Curran sent the Mustangs away with a 72-68 win.
 
Next up for the purple and white is an OUA Quarter-final matchup against McMaster. Game time is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at Burridge Gym, and fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv