LONDON, Ont. – First-year forward
Katie Bastedo scored a team-high 13 points to lead the Western women's basketball team in a 61-54 loss to the Laurier Golden Hawks on Wednesday evening in Alumni Hall.
With the loss, the Mustangs drop to a 5-14 record on the regular season and remain in eighth place in the OUA West division standings. The Golden Hawks' victory improves their record to 8-11 on the year, as they remain in fifth in the OUA West.
Two other Mustangs scored in double figures for the purple and white in the loss, as
Emma Johnson and
Maddy Horst each poured in 12 points on the evening.
"We just weren't consistent enough, but they did a good job of executing against us down the stretch and they earned the victory tonight," said Mustangs head coach Brian Cheng. "We're a little shorthanded once again, but I'm proud of the work our players put in tonight, especially Katie [Bastedo] who had yet another promising outing for us."
"It felt good to get more opportunities against a good defensive team, but I want to keep growing and hopefully be able to shift games later in my career," said Bastedo. "It's nice to play in front of a full crowd like ours, but it's an adjustment at the same time. Trying to get used to the pace of the game and the environment and the high stakes is all a lot to get used to. But I feel like tonight helped a lot with that."
Laurier was led by Brianna Iannazzo, who scored a game-high 14 points and collected six rebounds to lead her team to victory.
The Mustangs struggled to control the Golden Hawks inside the paint to begin the game behind the obvious size differential, but the initial offensive output of Horst kept the purple and white in the game through the opening minutes. Western would eventually find their footing defensively, rebounding with purpose and finishing possessions, while
Horst's ability to score with consistency allowed the Mustangs to head into the second quarter with a 19-10 lead.
However, Western's offensive momentum seemed to taper off to begin the second quarter, while Laurier's ability to score inside once again cut into the score differential. The Golden Hawks continued to attack inside with little success shooting the ball otherwise, but a renewed defensive presence, as well as a slew of three-pointers, left Western heading into halftime with a 28-21 advantage.
But despite the strong first half from the purple and white, Laurier seemed to completely shut down Western's offence for much of the third quarter, clogging the paint and forcing the Mustangs into low-percentage shots. After beginning the second half on a 10-3 run, the Golden Hawks found themselves eventually overtaking Western for a slight 43-39 lead heading into the fourth.
The cold streak continued into the final quarter of play for Western, as they struggled to find the high-quality looks in the paint that were available throughout the first half. However, a late long-range shooting display from Johnson helped carry the Mustangs back into the game. But despite Johnson's effort, the run proved to be too little, too late, as Laurier ultimately walked away with the 61-54 lead.
"There are always learning opportunities in games like these, especially when we have such a young team," said Cheng. "We just have to keep working hard and get better. It sounds like a simple recipe, but when you're dealing with young players, you just have to improve at a different speed. But that's okay, we're on our way."
The Mustangs will be back in action this Saturday, February 2, where they will be travelling down to Hamilton, Ontario to take on the McMaster Marauders 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.
