THUNDER BAY – August Ricketts and Lily Gruber-Schulz got to go out on their own terms.
It’s about all they could ask.
The fifth-year Lakehead Thunderwolves basketball players both took several seasons off because of injury, and both at one point figured their university athletics careers were over, a time filled with fond memories, but a time ready to remain in the past.
Fate changes fast.
Ricketts returned last season, the Thunderwolves desperate for bodies as injuries mounted. Gruber-Schulz, the Grand Marais, Minn. native who now wants to call Canada home, battled foot injuries throughout much of her time at LU, and called it quits before the pandemic.
She decided this season she still had some unfinished business to take care of on the court, and fought her way back to once again become an integral part of the team.
Both players, along with all-star guard Tiffany Reynolds and the injured Mariah MacFarlane of Marathon, bid farewell to the Thunderwolves on Saturday night.
Ricketts, who scored the game-tying basket on Friday night to force overtime, and Gruber-Schulz, who scored five points in the extra frame to snatch victory away from the Algoma Thunderbirds, can hold their heads high after Saturday night’s finale.
Though the Thunderwolves found themselves on the wrong side of a 76-45 decision at the hands of the visiting No. 1 Carleton Ravens, Ricketts put up seven points and hauled in eight rebounds, while Gruber-Schulz had seven points and seven boards to close out their careers.
“It means absolutely everything,” Ricketts said of being able to walk away because her eligibility had run out, not her health.
“It was a tough decision last time around to not play my final season and I’m just so grateful to have the opportunity to come back and work my butt off, play for the girls and play for this team. It’s the way I wanted to end it.”
Gruber-Schulz, whose family was out in full force on Saturday night, said she wouldn’t have wanted to go out any other way.
“It feels really good, just to be so mentally ready to play the game, and emotionally ready to play the game. I could have probably come back in a little better shape at the beginning of the year, but we’re good now. It means a lot as an athlete just to finish out my career the way it happened. It’s good.”
Interim coach Dave McCallum said the departing seniors will be missed, but added they made sure this season to pass along the knowledge the next generation will need to help turn the 3-19 Thunderwolves program around.
“To use the term invaluable, I think understates what type of impact they’ve had. They’ve been leaders for five-plus years with the program, on and off the court. I mean that wholeheartedly. The things they do for this program outside of practices and games is immeasurable for how they’ve built basketball in Thunder Bay,” McCallum said.
Saturday’s game was essentially decided in the first, the Ravens taking a 27-7 lead. The Thunderwolves did managed to outscore Carleton 13-12 in the second, but the top team in the nation simply had too much talent and too much depth for Lakehead to handle.
Kyana Jade Poulin lead Carleton with 18 points, including four three-pointers, grabbing 10 rebounds for the double-double.
Reynolds led Lakehead with 11, giving her 1,014 for her career, including playoffs and non-conference games.
Carleton has a first-round bye and will open the playoffs at home in Round 2.
Court shots: Lakehead Athletics also honoured Lou Pero, who retired from coaching after Saturday's game. Pero has been associated with the university since 1966, coaching the men's team from 1989 to 2003 and acting as an assistant coach from 2003 to 2023.
