Easy win

The playoffs are calling and on Friday night the Lakehead Thunderwolves answered the bell.

Lindsay Druery dropped 17 points to power the Wolves to a lopsided runaway 67-48 win over the hapless Windsor Warriors.

It was a must-win contest that pushed the home squad into a tie for fifth place in the OUA West with two weekends left in the regular season, their 8-9 record equalling the Western Mustangs, who the Wolves hold the tiebreaker over by virtue of a season series sweep.

"It's always a tight race in the OUA, especially in the West Division," said Druery, sporting the start of a black eye after taking an elbow to the face in the second half, ending her night.

"We know that it's been our goal all week that pretty much playoffs started right here. So we wanted to go out and get comfortable on the court again and make our playoff spot in hopes of earning a playoff spot."

Comfortable is an understatement for their first-quarter outburst, that saw the Wolves take a 25-8 lead and really never look back, save for a third-quarter run by the Warriors, who dropped to an anaemic 1-16 with the loss.

"As you know we've lost four straight and we were struggling a little bit, so we just wanted to get our feet back under us and get it going right from the beginning of the game."

Druery, who last week moved into seventh on the Thunderwolves all-time scoring list in her final season of eligibility, scored six of LU's first nine points, the other basket a Kelsey Bardsley three-pointer.

Lacey McNulty took control later in the quarter with seven straight points, upping the Lakehead lead to 21-6.
The Wolves took a 38-19 lead into the half at the Thunderdome, but it was clear they weren't the dominant team that showed up in the opening 10 minutes.

It was a trend that would continue through much of the third, when Waterloo pulled to within 10.

"You take a look from the second quarter on and we won by three points. In the first quarter I thought we were well prepared and came out with a lot of good energy," said LU coach Jon Kreiner.

"We knew how important it was. We had a good week of practice. We had a bit of a hangover on Monday from losing four games in a row, but we knew we have a good schedule, with four of the next six games at home."

There's no question of the importance the team is placing on each remaining game, he said.

"These games are huge and we've got to do our job and a lot better job from the second quarter on."

The turning point happened in the third, if there is such a thing in a 20-point win.

With the Warriors rallying and threatening to cut the lead to single digits, Waterloo's Therese Jacobse missed an open lay-up.

The Wolves raced down the court and McNulty was left alone under the basket, the defensive lapse making it 60-46.

On their next trip down the hardwood Erika French carbon copied McNulty, stretching the lead to 16 and ending the comeback hopes of the Warriors.

Claw marks: Druery has been approached by at least two European teams to play next season. One of the squads is in Belgium, Kreiner confirmed.