THUNDER BAY – It’s been a tough season for the Lakehead Thunderwolves women’s basketball team.
Off-the-court distractions aside, heading into Friday night’s game against the visiting University of Toronto Varsity Blues, the Thunderwolves had yet to win in 10 outings, the lone OUA team without a victory in 2022-23.
Not even Friday the 13th could get them down -- the winless drought is over.
Tiffany Reynolds put the Thunderwolves on her back in the early going and finished with a game-high 26 points.
When the Varsity Blues decided to key on the fifth-year veteran, rookie Eva Guilera decided it was a good night to post a career-high 19 points.
Add in 16 from steady-shooting guard Ally Burke, and the Thunderwolves finally found the recipe they needed to end their season-long slide, knocking off Toronto 78-71 in front of a packed CJ Sanders Fieldhouse crowd who arrived just in time to see Lakehead break open a 58-58 tie after three quarters with a 20-point fourth.
“It has been a long-time coming,” said Reynolds, who before the game set an 18-point goal for herself, a total she reached by halftime.
“It’s a new year, a new team. I’m here for it. I love these girls. Obviously we had two weeks of preparation and we worked day in and day out. We worked so hard. A lot of the time the fourth quarter was our killer, and we didn’t have the legs.”
This week, they were ready, albeit it took them a little while to get going.
The Varsity Blues raced out to an early 9-0 lead, thanks in part to a pair of three pointers by 5-foot-11 guard Lauren Boers.
Down 20-11, Reynolds put up five straight points to close out the first, banked in a three to open the second and gave the Wolves their first of two leads in the second, scooping the ball into the net three minutes in.
Reynolds also closed out the half with a buzzer beater, LU taking a 40-37 lead into the break.
The Varsity Blues (3-10) quickly battled back in the third, a Boers triple knotting the contest 42-42 and the two teams battled throughout the quarter, neither side taking more than a three-point lead.
Burke and Sarah Azzolini hit back-to-back buckets to open the fourth, but Toronto kept pushing and retook the lead four minutes in, Broer at the centre of things once again, snagging an offensive board and scoring – but missed the ensuing free throw.
The opened the door for Burke, who buried a three, giving Lakehead the lead for good. Veteran Lily Gruber-Schulz helped secure the win with a steal, an offensive rebound and a basket, closing it out with a pair of free throws.
“It’s just feels amazing,” said Guilera, who missed most of the first half due to injury. “We’ve been working so hard for this and it feels like we deserve it.”
Interim coach Dave McCallum said the team showed plenty of fight all night long.
“I’m really proud of this group. We all are as coaches. We made a commitment after the break to raise the game to the next level. We did some things to get us playing at the level we knew we could. The girls were committed the past two weeks to do those things and it showed tonight.”
Lakehead and Toronto meet again on Saturday night. Tip-off at the Fieldhouse is 6 p.m.
