THUNDER BAY – The list of Lakehead Thunderwolves players who have put up 1,000 points or more over their careers isn’t very long.
Tasia McKenna and Leashja Grant are the only two to accomplish the feat in OUA play.
Add in the post-season, and Lindsay Druery joins the group.
Include non-conference games and Nikki Ylagan and Jylisa Williams make the grade.
On Friday night, guard Tiffany Reynolds was invited to the party.
Needing 14 points to hit the mark, including playoffs and non-conference play, the Toronto native buried four three-pointers in the opening half, adding in a two-point basket to reach the milestone, the historic trey giving LU a 39-23 lead at the time.
Reynolds, who plays her final game as Thunderwolf on Saturday night against Carleton, was given a standing ovation when it was announced she’d hit the 1,000-point mark, and did a little dance of joy in celebration as the game was briefly stopped to mark the moment.
“I don’t have the words to explain that feeling. Now I’m with the greats – Leashja Grant, Tasia McKenna. It just feels good. But these girls they just battled so hard, I’m just so proud. I couldn’t have done it without them. Everyone had an assist on my four threes, the most I’ve every hit in a game,” said Reynolds, who finished with a team-high 17 points and 17 rebounds, in what proved to be a 78-72 overtime win.
She's got 795 regular-season points.
It looked like a laugher at the half, but the T-Wolves blew a 17-point lead at the break and needed a basket in the paint from August Ricketts with 3.3 seconds on the clock in regulation to send the game to a five-minute overtime.
Reynolds said there was no way they were going to let the 0-21 Algoma Thunderbirds spoil the party and stop LU from picking up a third win of 2022-23, their second straight victory and just their second at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse this season.
“There were a lot of emotions I could feel for both teams. It was a packed gym, everybody was going nuts. Our coach called a timeout and our coach just told us to play lockdown defence, keep our hands up and don’t foul,” Reynolds said, describing the moments after Ricketts tied the game 65-65.
“That baseline drive, I’m not going to lie, it had me scared. Then overtime happened and Lily (Gruber-Schulz) pops off and that’s all.”
Gruber-Schulz, who also ends her university career on Saturday, put up a quick five points in the extra frame, as LU raced out on a 7-2 run, her three-pointer answer a similar shot from Algoma’s Kaila Fong, whose 18 points were second to teammate Karly Fracalanza, who topped all scorers with 22.
“I think this win means a lot to everybody, because we really want to finish off the season on a good note, so I kind of had to do what needed to be done,” said Gruber-Schulz, a native of Grand Marais, Minn.
The Thunderwolves (3-18) led by as many as nine in overtime.
Algoma opened the second half with a 7-0 run to cut the LU lead to 10, and closed the gap to six by the end of the third, Francalanza hitting one of her six three-pointers on the night just before the buzzer to cut the Lakehead lead to six.
An 11-5 run to start the fourth had Algoma back on even ground.
Then, with less than 90 seconds to go, Ally Burke, who led the Wolves with 20 points, was called for an unsporting foul. Gracie Batongbakal hit both free throws to put Aloma up 64-63. Fracalanza went to the line with 13.3 seconds left, but only hit one of two, extending the Thunderbirds lead to 65-63, only to have Ricketts net the equalizer.
Game time Saturday against No. 1 Carleton (18-3) is 6 p.m.
