THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead Thunderwolves women’s basketball team (3-4) won their second game in as many nights, 77-75 over the York Lions (1-7). The T-Wolves trailed for the majority of the game, before finally taking the lead with under a minute remaining on an Ayse Kalkan put back. York had their chances to challenge for the lead in the final minute, but could not convert on free throws down the stretch. Kelsey Bardsley hit one of two free throws with 14.5 seconds left to put LU up by 2. On the following play York would fail to execute, resulting in a broken play and a final shot that was partially blocked by Katie Ulakovic as time expired.
On this night Lakehead’s leading scorer was Ashley Randall (Hamilton, ON) with a career-high 20 points and 8 rebounds (10-13 free throws). Carolyn Fragale had 15 points with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Ayse Kalkan had another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
York’s top scorer was Cyrielle Recoura with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Courtney Osbourne had 14 points and 7 rebounds on the night, and Nadia Qahwash rounded out the Lions’ scoring with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Lakehead once again won the battle on the glass, with a 47-34 rebounding advantage (20 offensive rebounds to York’s 11).
Coach Jon Kreiner stated after the win, “This was a big character win for us tonight. We put ourselves down big early and had to make several adjustments to a very well prepared York team. Coach Pangos always gets his teams ready to disrupt what the other team is doing and tonight I thought York did an excellent job against our pressure and our half court defense. Ultimately it was our offensive rebounding that saved us tonight and clutch shooting down the stretch. Ashley Randall had her best game in a Thunderwolves uniform and that will bring her a lot of confidence leading into the Christmas break.”
