London, ON – The Mustangs welcomed the Waterloo Warriors to Alumni Hall Friday night for their sole game of the weekend, ultimately falling 72-51.
Waterloo currently is in 2
nd place in the West, sitting above Western as they have 7-3 and 7-4 records respectively. The purple and white came into this one looking for their first win of the 2023 season and to break their current two game losing streak in an important and close divisional match-up.
Brett Fischer was the top scorer of the night for Western with 19 points, as Sarah Harvey and Emily Capretta followed with 12 and 13 respectively.
"Going in, this is a team that's ranked above us and they have some good players so we were pumped and worked all week preparing for them," said Ariane Saumure. "I think we were hyped up because it was an opportunity to get better and beat a team and climb the ranks. Today the game didn't go the way we planned but that's the game of basketball sometimes."
"It was a close game," added head coach Nate McKibbon. "We are very close to each other in the standings and both teams have taken losses recently. I thought we had a good week of practice but some of the stuff we worked on didn't translate to the court."
With neither team able to find the basket early on, it was the visiting Warriors who got the first two points on the board three minutes in. Waterloo extended their lead to 6-0 before Brett Fischer secured Western's first points of the game.
Emily Capretta led the first quarter with three points while Sarah Harvey, Ariane Saumure and Fischer had two as the Mustangs found themselves down 18-9 to close out the opening ten minutes.
The purple and white looked to close the gap and continued to push early on in the second quarter, where they got 14 points. A three from Sarah Harvey would put the 'Stangs within five at 26-21.
Harvey's team-leading five points of the quarter would bring the purple and white within seven to close out the opening half, as they sat behind at 30-23 to the visitors.
Capretta got the second half started for the 'Stangs with three points, while Harvey brought the purple and white within three, climbing back from their early deficit, as the Warriors called timeout at 33-30.
The team's exchanged points and kept things close as Fischer pulled the Mustangs back within four at 48-44 right at the buzzer.
In similar fashion to the rest of the game, the visiting Warriors began to pull away yet again early in the final quarter, forcing Western to call a timeout at 58-48 as they looked to regroup and fight back to keep things close and take their first lead of the game.
Coming out of the timeout, Waterloo would take the next 11 points before Capretta secured a three for the 'Stangs. Western's effort would ultimately fall short as Waterloo took the win 72-51.
"I think we knew going in it was going to be tough," said Brett Fischer. "But we know we can match their physicality and have better skill. But it comes down to grit sometimes and they had a bit more today. It's a tough loss because we know we wanted it."
"I think we beat ourselves too," added Saumure. "I didn't find that they did anything that blew us out of the water, it came down to ourselves and sometimes you are your worst enemy."
With the loss Western now sit at 7-4 on the season, while Waterloo improves to 8-4. The Mustangs will hit the road next weekend for a double-header against Ontario Tech and Queen's.
"The team we are playing next should be a win so it's going to be good prep for Queen's," said Saumure. "Queen's is a very good team, they are nationally ranked, so we need to remember this feeling and come out stronger and bring more fire next weekend."
"We need to have a really good prep week, review the film, and bring it in practice," concluded Fischer. "The best players we can play against are each other and so if we play the hardest we can during practice it's going to make us better for games. We need to go in feeling free. Ontario Tech are going to put in a fight, and for Queen's we have to give it our all. Leave everything on the floor."
The Mustangs are back in action Friday, January 20
th as they travel to Oshawa to take on the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. Tip-off is set for 6pm with the action being available to watch on OUA.tv
