TORONTO, ON - The Mustangs return to London with only one victory from this weekend, following Saturday night's loss to the Toronto Metropolitan University Bold's at the Mattamy Athletic Centre by 30 points.
Both these highly-skilled teams were in a position to be in the playoffs, with a lot riding on the outcome of this game, it was clear just how badly all these players wanted to make it.
Western was tight on the ball right from the tip, playing an incredibly aggressive one-on-one defense against the Bold.
Brett Fischer scored the Mustangs first points of the game two minutes in, followed closely with a successful three-point shot from Emily Capretta, which allowed Western to take the lead over TMU in the opening minutes.
The Mustangs were efficiently closing in on their opponent throughout, especially under the basket, where they made several impressive blocks this quarter.
The first half of the quarter proved just how comparable these teams are, with the score holding within a single digit margin until after the mid-way point of the quarter when the Bold began to pull ahead.
Despite starting off a little shaky, the Bold quickly warmed up to the Mustangs and proved to be a challenge offensively, having had more scoring opportunities resulting in a 17-point run allowing them to pull ahead in scoring. As the first quarter ended, the Mustangs were down 27-16.
As the remainder of the first half was underway, UWO were looking to catch up after being out scored by 11 points in the opening quarter.
The Mustangs were quick to move down the court, and this second quarter began very similar to the first in that both teams were playing very much the same game, holding one another out of the key, setting up strong on defense. This play from both teams resulted in the score only increasing by two for each side in the opening two minutes of the game.
Western was doing a fantastic job at swinging the ball around and creating space as best as they can, while cutting through the key to lose their player, with the Bold holding tight against them on defense.
The Mustangs proceeded to score three times as many points over the next minute than TMU, putting up six points to the Bold's two, slashing the margin back down to single digits.
Western played much more passionately than the bottom half of the first, slowing down and making shots with much more intent than earlier on.
Over the following couple minutes and heading into the bottom half of the quarter, TMU had pulled back ahead to 41-26 with less than five remaining.
Despite continuing to fight hard throughout the rest of the opening half, the Mustangs continued to fall behind the Bold, allowing their lead to extend back to double-digits. Western were still pushing hard, but were just not able to sink the same level of three-point shots as TMU.
At the conclusion of the first quarter, the Bold had continued their lead despite aggressive play from Western, and the scoreboard read 48-33 in favour of the home team.
As the second half was under way, TMU was continuing to play aggressively, getting called up by the officials several times in the opening minutes, leaving them at three fouls with just under eight minutes left in the quarter.
Western continued to struggle sinking three's, but lately they have also started to have trouble on the free throw line. Toronto Met are a top 10 ranked team nation-wide in three-point shooting, which was a clear contributor to their dominance beyond the arc.
With only two minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Ariane Saumure put up the Mustangs second successful three-point shot of the game.
As Western was able to pull up to score 49 points at the conclusion of the third quarter, one point above the final score of TMU at half-time, the final quarter began with a score of 65-49 in favour of the Bold.
Into the fourth quarter, the Mustangs continued to struggle sinking three-point shots especially coming up against teams lately that have used this as a dominant part of their game.
TMU pulled ahead to a 23-point lead in the opening two minutes of the quarter, which they extended to a 29-point lead within three minutes.
The Mustangs did not let this widening gap overpower them, as they continued to fight through the way they had right throughout the game. However, as the Bold extended their lead to 32-points with two minutes remaining in the match, the Stangs tone started to change.
In the final minutes, the Mustangs were becoming increasingly frustrated, and were noticeably slower and less intense in their approach.
As the game came to an end, the Mustangs had stayed down by 30-points, and the TMU Bold claimed the 95-65 victory.
This game marks the end of a long string of road games for this Mustangs team, as they return back to Alumni Hall in London for their next matchup against the McMaster Marauders on Wednesday night (February 01) at 6 pm. Fans can purchase their ticket to come cheer on the team at WesternMustangs.ca/tickets.
