THUNDER BAY -- For 34 minutes the Lakehead Thunderwolves were able to hang with the best women’s basketball team in the country.
It was the final six minutes that sank their hopes of scoring the biggest upset of the campaign.
The No. 1 Windsor Lancers erased a 12-point third quarter deficit to escape the Thunderdome with an 80-70 victory over the Thunderwolves on Saturday night.
“It was our own doing,” senior guard Katie Ulakovic said following the loss. “We started to play with fear and that’s one thing Coach (Jon Kreiner) wants us to avoid doing. We know we can beat a team like this but when they start getting on a run we need to avoid playing scared.”
Trailing by six heading into the final 10 minutes, the Lancers outscored Lakehead 25-8 in the final frame with the four-time defending national champions’ big-game experience shining through.
Down the stretch Windsor switched and utilized a bigger lineup, bullying Lakehead on the offensive glass and clogging passing lines on defence, forcing the Thunderwolves to run offence from beyond the arc.
One of those forwards was Cheyanne Roger, with the second-year scoring 10 of her 19 points in the frame, adding three rebounds paving the way for Windsor to outrebound Lakehead by an 11-5 margin in the fourth.
One of the most glaring shortcomings for Lakehead was their shooting from three-point territory, where they managed only four makes on 26 attempts for a paltry 15 per cent.
Kreiner knows draining a small share of those misses would have changed the narrative of the contest.
“We know we can play with this team and we know we can beat this team though we have a long way to go before we can do that but I think we’re right there,” Kreiner said.
“I think if we knock down a few of those wide open looks then it’s probably our ball game.”
As has been the case all season, Lakehead was led by Jylisa Williams, who notched game-highs in both points and rebounds, finishing with 26 and 13 respectively.
But at the end the Lancers held here in check, keeping the ball out of her hands in crunch time and limiting her to only one basket.
“We didn’t show our composure at the end that we had at the beginning,” Williams said.
Lakehead trailed by six in the first quarter, before a late run put them within two after the initial 10 minutes.
The momentum carried over early in the second, with the Thunderwolves opening the frame on a 10-2 run to pull ahead. The Lancers fenced their way back, trailing by two at the recess. Williams hit the break with 16 points, eight boards and three dimes.
The Thunderwolves made the upset bid look even more plausible coming out of the locker room, racing out to a 17-7 run that gave Lakehead a 62-50 lead in the third quarter.
Despite the size of the deficit, the battle tested Lancers never wilted. They trimmed the deficit to six by the end of the quarter, down 62-56 going into the final 10 minutes.
Windsor finally retook the lead with about six minutes left on the clock and doubled down defensively on the Thunderwolves most potent weapon. Williams was blanketed and the Lakehead ball handlers struggled to get her engaged offensively. That offence stagnated and resulted in untimely turnovers.
Beyond the arc: Since a season-opening loss last year, the Lancers have won 26 straight regular season contests…Essa Jacbobsen chipped in 13 points and was the only other Wolves scorer to hit double figures...Williams and backcourt partner Corina Bruni combined for 13 assists, four more than the entire Windsor team combined...The Wolves hit the road next weeekend for one game each against Nipissing and Laurentian before the holiday break.
