THUNDER BAY -Sports – The Lakehead women’s basketball team will be in Winnipeg over the weekend to compete in the BOB FM Shootout, hosted by the University of Winnipeg. Also in the mix will be the University of Manitoba, and that of Regina as well.
Last weekend Lakehead hosted Winnipeg for a pair of games, losing both, 66-58 on Friday and 74-67 on Saturday. In both games Lakehead’s women fought hard, but struggled to find a collective rhythm. In those games it seemed that many players were given a chance to play as coach Kreiner is searching for a solid rotation that can execute the game plan for 40 minutes. To do so, they will need to find more ways to use their star center, Lindsay Druery (Smithville, ON), to put points on the board and also create space for outside shooters, such as import Kelsey Bardsley (Manchester, UK), who showed much confidence shooting the ball versus Winnipeg.
Lakehead defeated Manitoba twice earlier in the pre-season (once in overtime), so they should look to repeat that performance, while this weekend will be their first look at the 2011-12 Regina Cougars, a perennial CIS top 10 team.
Coach Jon Kreiner is focused on preparing his women for the regular season. The coach says, “”We will get our third look at and attempt to defeat Winnipeg in the first game of the BOB FM tournament in Winnipeg this weekend. Winnipeg has proven to be a tough match-up for us but things don’t get any easier against Regina who many feel will be in the top 3 in the country this season. We will get our third game against Manitoba on Sunday. Our main goal is to get ready for regular season play. These games will be our seventh in three weeks and our team is getting the experience needed to improve”.
Lakehead’s schedule is as follows (Central Time):
Friday – 6:00 pm vs. Winnipeg
Saturday – 8: 00 pm vs. Regina
Sunday – 10:00 am vs. Manitoba
Games can be watched via webcast on Canada West TV.