Thunder Bay, Ont. – SPORTS – Lakehead Basketball travels to Sault Ste Marie this weekend for a single set of games, Saturday, January 23 against the Algoma Thunderbirds. Women at 2pm, Men at 4pm in Algoma’s newly-renovated George Leach Centre.
Lakehead Women (3-5)
The Algoma women’s team (0-10) is still searching for their first win of the season, and look to earn it this weekend against a Thunderwolves roster that has seen its ranks thinned by injuries and illness.
“We’re glad to get playing again, we’ve had an extended break since our tournament in Halifax,” says coach Kreiner, whose team did scrimmage against some local high school boys’ teams in the interim, but hasn’t played a game in three weeks.
In their last game on Dec 30 against Brock, Katelyn Andrea had one of the best of her career, scoring 26 points with14 rebounds. Coach Kreiner is hoping the confidence and aggression Andrea showed in that game will continue on Saturday.
“Katelyn does a lot of little things right for us, and those need to continue, but we also need her to step up, test the waters early and be a scorer for us.”
Algoma’s main threats include Laura Meadows (8.5 pts/game), and Karissa Kajorinne, who hails from Thunder Bay and came through the Junior ‘Wolves development program. Kajorinne, along with Jordan Milos are frequent shooters from the outside and can heat up if not aggressively defended early on.
Lakehead Men (3-5)
The Algoma Thunderbirds’ men (1-9) earned their first win of the season last week, 68-64 over the Western Mustangs in London. They also played Windsor to a 7-point game the following night. Algoma presents challenges with their level of hustle and athleticism, as showed in their 9.2 steals/game, 4th best in the OUA.
The three-week layoff between games for the Thunderwolves (since the Wesmen Classic) has come with its share of challenges.
“We been going at it in practice now for three weeks,” says coach Furtado. “The guys are a little bit edgy, they’re sick and tired of beating up on each other every day in practice. We’re looking forward to getting back to playing. It’s just one game this weekend, so it makes it that much more important that we come out of this break playing as well as we can.”
Lakehead is back to full strength, with Henry Tan deemed ready to go after sustaining a lower body injury in December. Tan scored 16 against the ‘Birds in a 73-68 win on Oct 10, while Bacarius Dinkins scored 20 with 12 rebounds in a 79-60 win on Oct 9.
Guards AJ Barber and Sean Clendinning lead the Thunderbirds in scoring, both with 11pts/game in OUA play. Clendinning scored 19 against Lakehead on October 10.
Weekend Schedule @ Algoma Thunderbirds
Saturday, Jan 23
2:00pm – Women
4:00pm – Men
