THUNDER BAY – Jon Kreiner’s team is playing with a depleted roster to begin with.
The long-time Lakehead Thunderwolves coach decided because of COVID-19 to only carry 11 players this season.
Spanish import Paula Lopez has yet to suit up due to injury. On Friday night all-star Sofia Lluch, who spent last season playing in Spain, had to sit because of illness – though she is expected back on Saturday night.
Then, late in their home opener, often-injured guard Kaylah Lewis went down with an apparent knee injury, but was seen walking gingerly on it after the game.
The shortened bench left a lot of expectations of the team’s remaining players, a tall order as the No. 6 Brock Badgers hit the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse for the first of two OUA women’s basketball games.
Ally Burke scored a team-high 12 points and fellow rookie Alexia Giroux added a career high 10, but the Thunderwolves as a whole hit just 14 of 53 shots and were saddled with a 61-44 loss, done in by double-digit deficits in the second and third quarters.
“We had to look at other people to score, obviously, with Sofia out,” said Burke, who finished with six rebounds and three assists.
“That’s a lot of points that we’re losing. But coach told us not to think about it too much, that’s just gives an opportunity for other people to put up more shots, as long as we’re shooting the same amount then we should be good.”
Kreiner said Lluch’s absence forced the Thunderwolves (0-3) to adjust their game plan.
“We were really looking at moving the basketball today. At times we looked like Dr. Jekyll and other times we looked like Mr. Hyde,” Kreiner said. “But there were times out there our passing plays looked really good. It almost looked like we knew what we were doing.”
Where the Wolves struggled, after some early success getting the ball to rookie Eva Guillera in the paint, was scoring underneath the net.
Chance after chances was swatted away by the much larger Badgers defenders, and when they tried to work the perimeter, the shots just didn’t fall with enough regularity, Lakehead connecting on just seven of 26 three-point attempts.
“I was actually pretty proud of our girls and how hard they battled. We kept this team that’s averaging almost 80 points a game to 61. I was hoping to keep them in the 50s,” Kreiner said.
Lakehead found itself in an early 8-0 hole, and trailed by 10 at one point in the opening quarter. But they battled back, Burke scoring six of her dozen points in the opening period and Lakehead trailed 18-16 after one.
The Badgers pulled away in the second with an 11-0 run, keyed by three straight threes, a pair by Jenneke Pilling and one from Ivan Twumasi that upped their lead to 34-23 at halftime. A 9-4 run to start the third sealed the win.
The ever optimistic Giroux said she’s already trying to put the Thunderwolves third straight loss in the past.
“I think that we had some hard moments, but we’re always positive and on the bench we speak to each other, so we’re good,” Giroux said. “I think tomorrow’s going to be a great game.”
