THUNDER BAY, ON – Sports – The Lakehead Thunderwolves women’s basketball team seemed a step behind for most of Friday’s game against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, losing 71-59. The ‘Wolves were slow to get things going, trailing 10-1 following the first 5 minutes of play. They would battle back to trail 21-14 to end the first Q, but continued defensive break downs in the 2nd resulted in a 41-22 halftime lead for the Hawks.
Thanks to some renewed effort in the second half, the T-Wolves did trim the lead down by the end of game, but it would not be enough. Despite the loss, the 12 point margin would not be a total disappointment, should the Wolves be able to win tomorrow by 13 or more, and thus earning the critical ‘split’, which would come in handy when OUA playoff seeding is finalized later in the season. Laurier and Lakehead both entered this evening’s game at 6-7, so a 13+ point win tomorrow would keep the Wolves on pace (and ahead of Laurier) in the playoff hunt.
Top scorer for Lakehead was Carolyn Fragale with 25 points and 7 rebounds. Katie Ulakovic was next with 10 points. Ayse Kalkan finished with 7 points and 7 rebounds with 3 steals.
For the Golden Hawks, four players scored in double digits, led by Kimberley Yeldon with 16 points to go with 9 rebounds. Point guard Lee Anna Osei scored 12 points with 4 assists.
Lakehead shot 31% from the field, compared to Laurier’s 39%.
Coach Jon Kreiner said, postgame, “Laurier came out and executed better, played tougher and played with more energy. They also had a much clearer idea of how they wanted to attack and defend us. I take the blame for not preparing our team adequately. Tomorrow we need to make our adjustments and add good team energy and compete like we did in moments in the 3rd quarter and for the full fourth quarter. It was disappointing that we put ourselves in a position to have to play with more energy, intensity and desperation but that is the position we are in now.”
The two teams will rematch tomorrow evening at 6pm.
Webcast available via SSN Canada
Audio broadcast available via CILU Radio, 102.7FM
