They're not eliminated, but they've got an Everest-sized mountain to climb into the playoffs.
And depending what happens Saturday between Laurier and McMaster, it may be too late already for the Lakehead Thunderwolves women's basketball team.
Entering Friday night's game at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse, the Wolves and Guelph Gryphons were tied in the OUA West standings, each team clinging to a shaky share of the sixth and final playoff spot.
But the streaking Gryphons, who last weekend made up two games on Lakehead to pull into a 9-11 tie, poured it on in the fourth quarter to pull out a one-sided 83-63 triumph, all but ending the Wolves playoff chances.
To squeak in Saturday, first and foremost they need McMaster to beat the higher-seeded Laurier Golden Hawks. If that doesn't play out, it doesn't matter what they do against Guelph in the rematch. If it does, they not only have to beat the Gryphons, they have to do it by at least 21 points, to salvage the season split and win the tiebreaker, most points scored in games involving the two clubs.
A McMaster loss and a Lakehead win would mean a three-way tie, a scenario that the Wolves lose because they would have only won once in four tries against McMaster and Guelph this season.
LU coach Jon Kreiner said he told his players the same thing after the disappointing loss as he did before tip-off.
"We're struggling with translating the things I've asked to happen on the court," said Kreiner, whose team hit 25 shots from the field, including seven three-pointers, but ran out of gas as the game wound down and watched the Gryphons lead skyrocket in the second half.
"You take a look at everything we did this game, and I thought we played a good game and then the last part of the game, we gave them opportunities to make it obviously a tough situation tomorrow. With six-and-a-half minutes to go it's a six-point game and all of a sudden it's a 20-point game."
The wheels began to fall off in the third quarter.
The Wolves trailed 34-31 at the half, going on a 13-5 run late in the second to erase the bulk a 29-18 Gryphons lead.
Starting the second half Sierra Guy scored on back-to-back possessions, four of the nine points she'd score on the night, giving Lakehead a 37-36 advantage.
But the Gryphons fought back, using speed and a bit of sloppiness on their opponent's part to forge an 11-0 run to take a 10-point lead, the exclamation point a three-pointer by Dana Van Balkom, one of six Guelph players to hit double digits.
Kelsey Bardsley drained a long three-pointer in the final seconds of the third to cut the lead to seven. Then after the Gryphons pushed it back to nine, Lindsay Druery dropped the put-back and hit a pair of free throws to close the gap to 61-56 and Ayse Kalkan made an acrobatic scoop and the ensuing foul shot to cut the lead to two.
But a shot-clock violation and a Kalkan turnover stopped the momentum and within a couple of minutes the Gryphons held an 11-point cushion and it just kept growing from there, a Fragale three-pointer – she led all scorers with 17 – and a Druery free throw the only points they'd score the rest of the way.
Alyssa Short was huge down the stretch for the Gryphons, hitting five of the last six points of the game to finish with 11. Samantha Russell and Jasmine Douglas led Guelph with 14 points apiece.
"What I told them was to keep their heads up and understand that for a good portion of this game I felt we were the better team and we outplayed this team," Kreiner said. "We just didn't do a great job in the last five minutes of this game."
Tip-off Saturday night is 6 p.m.
