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WBB: Thunderwolves face key weekend match-ups

The Waterloo Warriors may be 3-11, but they’re not a team to take lightly.

The Waterloo Warriors may be 3-11, but they’re not a team to take lightly.

That’s the attitude Jon Kreiner, coach of the Lakehead Thunderwolves women’s basketball team, wants his players to employ heading into a key OUA match-up Friday night at the Thunderdome.

What he doesn’t want them to do is look past the Warriors, who gave No. 5 Laurier a run for their money on Wednesday night, knowing Laurier arrives in Thunder Bay 24 hours later for a battle of top 10 teams.

Kreiner’s team is on a roll, winning five straight, but are running neck-and-neck with McMaster in the OUA Central and need to keep pushing to earn a first-round playoff bye and the ability to host a second-round playoff game.

Kreiner’s not taking any team for granted.

“We definitely have been putting a lot of emphasis on Laurier and we’ve had this game marked on the calendar for quite a while,” Kreiner said Thursday in an interview with CKPR Radio.

“It’s been a big game every year against Laurier – more of a rivalry game. But we can’t take Waterloo too lightly.”

The key to stopping the Warriors is slowing down their middle-of-the-pack offence, while not developing bad habits that might hurt them the following night.

“We don’t want to take too much out of us so we’re ready to go against Laurier,” Kreiner said.

The Wolves got a sneak preview of their weekend opponents in one sitting Wednesday night, the whole team watching the 60-47 battle between Waterloo and Laurier on OUA TV.

“Waterloo is a team that’s been doing well lately against some top teams, so we can’t take them lightly. We’re going to have to take care of the ball. We’re going to have to defend players, because every single player is looking to shoot the ball, looking to score,” Kreiner said.

“We’re going to have to play that strong, tough pressure defence that we’ve been playing and finish with good rebounding.”

The Golden Hawks, on the other hand, are deep team, averaging more than 70 points a game, the 10th-highest scoring team in Canada, exactly two points more than Lakehead. Defensively the two sides are indistinguishable, LU edging out Laurier by a tenth of a point in the points allowed category.

“They’re a strong team and they really take advantage of your mistakes,” Kreiner said.

“We have to value the basketball. We have to make sure when we take shots they’re good shots, leading to good transition defence, because Laurier is an excellent transition team.”

The Wolves will continue to push the ball on Saturday, the 12th-year coach added.

“They’re going to try to slow us down, but I think even though we’re both fast teams, I think we’re faster and they know that.” 

Offensively the Golden Hawks are led by Whitney Ellenor, averaging 14.3 points an outing. Sophomore Nicole Morrison and junior guard Kaitlyn Schenck are also averaging double figures.

Tip-off for the Wolves final two home games of the regular season is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday and Satruday, with the men’s games following at 8 p.m.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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