THUNDER BAY – By day, August Ricketts is a student, who spends her spare time working for Lakehead University Athletics.
By night, much to her own surprise, she’s a playing member of the Lakehead Thunderwolves women’s basketball team, who stepped up after several seasons on the sidelines to fill a gap when her former club suffered a spate of injuries and player losses.
Ricketts, who hails from Innnisville, Ont., seemingly had her university basketball career come to an end in 2018, after concussions sidelined her for more than a year.
But when the call came earlier this season, she happily answered, willing to juggle being a student-athlete, along with all her other responsibilities, once again.
It paid off on Saturday night, at least for personal satisfaction.
The Thunderwolves didn’t get the win over the Windsor Lancers (4-10) in their home-court finale at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse, but Ricketts, honoured for a second time in four years on senior’s night, came through in a big way for Lakehead, pouring in a game-high 19 points and hauling in nine rebounds.
If it is her final game in the OUA – and she’s still thinking about returning for one more hurrah under the tutelage of Jon Kreiner – she’s going out on her own terms.
“I’m definitely happy with how I played. My body’s a little sore, but I definitely did my best and tried to push through it as best as I can,” said Ricketts, nearly eight years removed from her rookie year in Thunder Bay.
It hasn’t been easy, she added, but maybe not as tough as she anticipated either.
“It definitely wasn’t as hard as I thought. My motivation behind it was just my love for the sport, definitely, and my love for the girls and the team as a whole. It was definitely difficult knowing I was coming in to help out with some injuries, so there was a little pressure on me, but I just used my love of the sport for my motivation.”
It helped that Ricketts was a regular around the Fieldhouse, someone her soon-to-be teammates were intimately aware of before she put on the blue and gold one more time.
Hana Whalen, LU’s sophomore guard who was in Grade 7 when Ricketts debuted with the Thunderwolves, said she’s been a great fit.
“It’s meant everything,” said Whalen, who put up 12 points on Saturday, including 10 in the fourth, in the 70-60 defeat.
“She has just been working so hard all the time. She’s putting her body on the line for us, she’s committed to us and it’s everything.”
Whalen said she wasn’t too surprised at seeing Ricketts’ final stat line against the Lancers.
“That was an incredible performance. She was working so-so hard. She was getting to the offensive glass and just boxing out everyone.”
Lakehead coach Jon Kreiner, whose team battled through 14 first-half lead changes, said he can’t speak highly enough about Ricketts, a player he recruited alongside long departed Thunderwolves like Lindsay Edward, Brigitte O’Reilly and Mozanga Ekwalanga.
“She was just giving everything she had. It’s unbelievable. I’m really proud of her.”
Lakehead trailed by two at the half, down 30-28, and by six after three. A 7-0 run by Windsor, their second of the night, put the game all but out of reach early in the fourth.
The Thunderwolves (2-12) wrap up the regular season on the road next weekend against Waterloo.
