Defence leads Wolves wome to key divisional win

Katie Ulakovic will be the first person to tell you her offensive game struggled in the first half.

But the fifth-year veteran hasn’t let her down.

On Friday her shot returned, just when the Lakehead Thunderwolves women’s basketball team needed it most.

The Thunder Bay native hit back-to-back three-pointers in the fourth quarter, which combined with a steal in between, helped the Thunderwolves pull away from the Brock Badgers and grab a key 65-55 home-court divisional match-up win.

“It felt really good, I’m not going to lie,” said Ulakovic, who finished with 13 points, second to Jylisa Williams’ unassuming 24, on a night when Lakehead struggled as a team from the field, hitting just 24 of 70 shots fired up.

Luckily for Ulakovic, her coach Jon Kreiner is a big believer and has stuck with her all season long, despite her struggle.

“He’s got my back,” she said. “I guess in those moments when it counts the most, that’s when you need that confidence and I’m really thankful for that.”

Kreiner said he’s counting on Ulakovic to be a difference maker going forward.

“I just told Katie that she’s got to be a scorer for us second term, not shying away if you miss your first few. And she stepped up and was a fifth-year player with experience and was all over the court tonight, both offensively and defensively.

More importantly, it helped the team to the crucial win.

Up just four points at the time, it stretched the lead to double digits for the first time in the contest. The Wolves’ lead never slipped below six the rest of the way.

“This game and our next game are probably the two most important games of the new year. The fact that we got one win out, but now we need to focus on tomorrow and get that next win.”

One key will be avoiding the slow start they got off to in Game 1.

The Badgers (3-5) took it to the Thunderwolves (5-3) in the opening quarter, outscoring their opponent 20-13, hitting three three-pointers along the way.

They’d only hit three more the rest of the game, as the Wolves locked the Badgers offence down, forcing turnover after turnover in a second quarter that saw them take the lead for good.

Katelyn Zen, in the dubious position of being Williams’ back-up, made the most of her minutes late in the first half.

Zen scored, then stole the inbounds pass and dropped a second basket, helping the Wolves to a five-point lead at the half.
It wasn’t a pretty win, Kreiner said, but he’ll take it.

“Our defence tonight, I thought was fantastic. We played great pressure defence without fouling. I wasn’t happy with the 20 points we gave up … But I was proud of what the girls were able to do.”

Williams finished with a double-double, grabbing 11 boards. Essa Jacobsen, returning to the lineup after minor knee surgery, had 10 rebounds and three steals.

Janlyn Yumol led Brock with 13 points.