THUNDER BAY – Sports – The Lakehead Thunderwolves’ basketball teams will have their hands full this weekend, as the Ottawa Gee Gees and Carleton Ravens enter the Thunderdome on Friday and Saturday evening (respectively), to take on Lakehead’s 3-1 women’s team and the 4-0 men’s team. Game times, as always are 6 pm for the women and 8 pm for the men.
Women’s Match-up: The Ottawa Gee Gees are coming off an impressive win over 2010-11 champion Windsor Lancers (who are currently ranked CIS #2). Friday’s match-up will certainly be the biggest challenge of the year for Lakehead’s starting forwards, Lindsay Druery and Lacey McNulty who will square off against 6’1 center Hannah Sunley-Paisley (20.5 PPG), 6′ Jenna Gilbert (14.2 PPG) and 6’1 Bess Lennox (14.0 RPG).
“We have a very tough weekend ahead for our team” says coach Jon Kreiner. “Ottawa is playing great, they just knocked off #2 Windsor and boast one of the tallest & most talented front courts in the CIS.”
The going doesn’t get much easier against the Ravens on Saturday, as Kreiner notes, “Carleton is the #4 team in the country and play great team offense & defense.” Kreiner continues, “Both of these teams force you to your weaknesses & do a great job of playing to their strengths. This weekend’s games will be a battle of wills. We need to impose our will and make very few mistakes.”
Men’s Match-up: Coach Scott Morrison explains the challenges Ottawa and Carleton present to his team, “We are excited to have the opportunity to play in two big games in the Thunderdome this weekend but taking no chances with our preparation and focus, “Morrison begins. “Ottawa is an explosive team that has a tough defense to go along with plural offensive weapons. The biggest name is Warren Ward who has represented Canada at the FISU and PAN AM games this summer. Ward is a versatile scorer that is going to require a great deal of attention. This would be much easier if it were not for the presence of excellent outside shooters in [Johnny] Berhanmeskel and [Jacob] Gibson-Bascombe on the perimeter as well as an underrated player in Chris Anderson who can do a lot of things to help a team win.”
Moving on the the CIS #1 Ravens, Morrison pulls no punches. “Carleton have four players on their roster that have represented Canada in the off-season. Tyson Hinz is the [2010-11] player-of-the-year in the CIS and has added an improved outside shot to his arsenal. Philip Scrubb could be the player of the year for the first half of the 2010-11 season the way he is playing the point thus far. To have all-star veterans such as [Eliot] Thompson and [Cole] Hobin flanking those young stars is a challenging line-up to match-up with. We are going to have to bring our top effort, focus and teamwork this weekend to have a chance to beat these two tough teams.”
Additional notes:
– Ottawa beat Windsor and Western last weekend.
– Ward played FISU and PAN AM games this year
– Hinz and Hobin played FISU as well
– Philip Scrubb and [Justin] Shaver played U19 World Championships
– Scrubb also played PAN AM and scored 35 in a win over Venezuela
Game Coverage: SSN Webcast: www.ssncanada.ca/games
CILU Broadcast – 102.7 FM , www.luradio.ca
As a bonus accommodation for fans, refreshments and a simulcast of the game will be presented on a big screen in The Hangar during the games happening in the Thunderdome.