THUNDER BAY – Sports – The first day of Homecoming 2012 resulted in two wins for Lakehead, both coming on the basketball court, while the Brandon women claimed a victory over the Lady T-Wolves in volleyball.
Women’s Volleyball: Brandon 3; Lakehead 1
In the kickoff to the day, the women’s volleyball team was defeated 3-1 by the visiting Bobcats (25-20, 25-14, 17-25, 25-18).
Jorie Daymond led all Thunderwolves with 18 kills to go with 10 digs. In her return to a Thunderwolves uniform after a year of rehab on her shoulder, Vanessa Chorkawy scored 11.5 points (8 kills, 3.5 blocks). Libero Breanne Hilhorst had 15 digs in the losing effort.
Leading the Bobcats in points was Chloe Reimer with 8 (6 kills, 2 blocks). Setter Kellie Baker had 12 assists in the match to go with 9 digs.
Women’s Basketball: Lakehead 85; Brandon 58
Jon Kreiner’s squad of young talent impressed in their debut of the season, handily beating Brandon 85-58. Kelsey Bardsley led all scorers with 17 (5-9 from 3pt), while starting point guard Katie Ulakovic earned a ‘double-double’ with 14 points and 10 assists, including 3-of-5 shooting from downtown. Rookie Rachael Bland chipped in 10 points in her Thunderwolves debut.
The Thunderwolves came out of the gate fast, out-scoring Brandon 28-14 in the first quarter, followed by a 23-17 advantage in the 2nd quarter to establish a comfortable lead they would not relinquish.
Brandon Bobcat Ambrea McDonald-Okoro drooped 14 points to lead her team to go with 4 rebounds. Aimee Johnston scored 10 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.
Coach Jon Kreiner shared, “This is just a first game and doesn’t mean much of anything but it was a nice way to start the season and a good team win. 26 assists to 13 turnovers was very nice to see (Katie Ulakovic 10-1) and overall I thought everyone did something positive. We need to improve our interior defence and weak side rotations for tomorrow’s game and play defense without fouling”.
Men’s Basketball: Lakehead 83; Brandon 56
The men’s team coasted to win to finish the triple header of events at the Thunderdome, winning 83-56 over the Bobcats.
Top scorer for Lakehead was rookie Joe Hart, who got the start in his rookie debut did not disappoint, scoring 16 (4-8 from 3pt). Ryan Thomson was also gunning from distance, hitting 4 of 8 threes for a total of 14 points to go with 6 rebounds. Joseph Jones came off the bench strong as usual with 13 points and 5 rebounds, including a slam dunk in the first half that got the home town crowd fired up.
Brandon’s leading scorer was Ilarion Bonhomme with 12, while forward Jordan Reaves pulled down 6 rebounds.
All three teams will re-match tomorrow, with volleyball at 4 pm, women’s basketball at 6 pm, and the men at 8 pm.
