THUNDER BAY – If only the Lakehead Thunderwolves could have a first-half do-over.
A flat-footed start that saw the Ottawa Gee-Gees jump in front by 22 points after 20 minutes proved too much to rebound from in the second half, despite a near-miraculous comeback bid that saw the Wolves climb as close as a five-point deficit.
The 68-60 win sends the No. 1 Gee-Gees to the OUA women’s basketball Critelli Cup final against the winner between McMaster and Carleton, a game postponed on Wednesday night because of weather conditions in the Hamilton area. It also secures them a berth in the USports Final 8, scheduled for next weekend at Ryerson.
The Wolves season came to a premature end, with no chance at a wild-card spot at nationals because both Calgary, who they beat at Christmastime, and Concordia are ahead of them in the criteria, which includes season records and ratings performance index standings.
Leashja Grant and Karissa Kajorinne powered the comeback bid, finishing with 24 and 20 points respectively.
Grant. who also grabbed 17 rebounds, had 19 of her 24 in the second half, while Kajorinne buried five of her six three-pointers on the night. Both played the final games of their OUA careers.
Nikki Ylagan was the only other contributor of note for No. 6 Lakehead, finishing with eight points.
It was all Ottawa in the opening half.
The Gee-Gees raced out to a 15-2 lead, bottling up the paint to keep Grant’s inside game at bay, while also paying close heed to Kajorinne and Ylagan, the Wolves main three-point threats.
“At half time I just told them that this could be the last time we play together as a team so his go out there and play hard and for one another,” Kreiner said. “We had a great season and gained great experience for our program."
The big difference was the rebounding.
Ottawa out-boarded their opponent 28-18 in the first half, but only 45-42 by the time the final buzzer sounded.
Brooklynn McLear-Fanus led all Ottawa players with 22 points, chipping in 10 assists for the double-double. Sarah Besselink had 14 for the Gee-Gees, while Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu had 10.
The Wolves cut the halftime deficit in half by the time the third quarter ended, down 54-43.
Lakehead scored the first six points of the fourth, Ylagan banking in a shot that cut the gap to 54-49.
But it was as close as the Thundewolves would get.
Anne Carr and Lefebvre-Okankwu hit back-to-back buckets to extend the Gee-Gees lead back to nine. Grant cut it to seven with a pair of free throws, and later to six with a hoop and a foul conversion. But after forcing a turnover, Tiffany Reynolds couldn’t get a three-pointer to drop that would have made it a one-possession contest and Besselink put it out of reach with a pair from the charity stripe.
“I wish we played better in the first half,” Kreiner said, reached via text.
The Wolves finished the regular season at 20-4, knocking off Guelph in last Saturday’s quarterfinal. Ottawa handed Lakehead one of those four losses, an 83-55 drubbing in November.
Thunder Bay’s Aliisa Heiskanen is a member of the Gee-Gees, but saw zero minutes of action in Wednesday’s semifinal.
