THUNDER BAY – Throw out the first quarter of Friday night’s game against the Windsor Lancers, and the Lakehead Thunderwolves were a very competitive basketball team.
Unfortunately, it was just not competitive enough to make up a 14-point deficit after the opening 10 minutes of play.
The two teams entered play with identical 2-10 records, but it was the Lancers who picked up win No. 3, riding a 19-5 opening quarter en route to a 69-50 OUA women’s basketball triumph.
“The first quarter was just a series of unfortunate events,” said senior guard Tiffany Reynolds, who paced the LU attack with 16 points and nine rebounds.
“We were getting to the bucket, we were putting up the lay-ups, we were putting up the shots, but everything just wouldn’t go in. It’s just the way the game goes, sometimes. What I always say about our team is we’ll never give up, we’ll always fight back, which is all we can do – hustle hard.”
It was a painful night on several fronts.
Rookie forward Eva Guilera injured her elbow in the early stages of the game, but did manage to return and put up 10 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double. Oft-injured guard Kaylah Lewis wasn’t so fortunate, suffering another knee injury that could sideline her for the remainder of the regular season.
Injuries aside, it was a battle from start to finish, said LU coach Jon Kreiner, after his team trailed 18-2 late in the first, and didn’t hit their first basket until more than half the first quarter was in the books at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse.
“It was a rough start for us, sure. We’re really struggling to score with the ball. I think we’re second worst in the whole conference in scoring and we’re eighth in defence. The problem was our defence wasn’t where it needed to be today,” Kreiner said.
“I think it was 10-2 and I thought, OK, we’re not scoring but it’s 10-2 with three minutes left. And then they went on a big run.”
Though mathematically still alive for a playoff spot in the OUA West, the Thunderwolves essentially need everything to go right for them the rest of the way, buried in eighth-spot in the nine-team conference, four points behind sixth-place Wilfrid Laurier (4-10) and two points back of Windsor (3-10).
Lakehead hit just two of 19 shots launched in the first, against a team giving up 75 points a night heading into Friday’s contest. They hit 8-of-14 in the second, but just 7-of-25 the rest of the way, and despite holding Windsor to just seven points in the fourth, that wasn’t enough to close the gap in any meaningful way.
Reynolds said the season, which saw the team lose all-star guard Sofia Lluch along the way, must have been meant to be a learning experience for such a young squad.
“I’m the oldest person on the team, but what I like about them is they’re always willing to ask the questions that need to be asked and they’re always having a listening ear, which is all you can do, really, work hard and listen,” Reynolds said.
Maggie Denys led Windsor, a team with just one third-year-player, with 15 points in 26 minutes, while Noor Bazzi came off the bench to put up 14, draining four three pointers in nine attempts.
