THUNDER BAY -- Maggie Murphy knows how to say farewell.
The fourth-year Lakehead Thunderwolves guard, beset by injuries and, more importantly, slowed by a budding nursing career that takes precedence over basketball, stepped onto the court in a crucial fourth-quarter situation on Saturday night, her team up by six against the winless York Lions.
Murphy, a former star with St. Ignatius in high school, promptly dropped a three-pointer on the Lions to extend the lead to nine and the Wolves went on to snap a five-game losing streak, downing York 65-47.
Moments later Murphy walked off the court one final time, hugged individually by each and every teammate.
She’d return for a few brief seconds as the clock wound down and that was it, her hard-court career had come to an end.
It wasn’t easy walking away, said Murphy.
But she simply couldn’t make school and her career and basketball all work together.
“I grew up watching basketball in the Thunderdome. I started when I was in Grade 7,” said Murphy, who spent two seasons with the St. Thomas Tommies in New Brunswick before returning to the Thunderwolves fold last season.
“My first tryout was at 6 a.m. and believe me, I didn’t want to be there. But to finish playing in the Thunderdome, playing for (Jon) Kreiner is probably the most emotional thing ever, considering now I’m done and this is where I grew up.”
Murphy provided a spark to an LU team that only a night earlier had come within a whisker of knocking off the No. 6 team in the nation, only to fall short in the fourth-quarter comeback bid.
“I’m going to save what I really want to say until her senior night at the end of the year,” Kreiner said. “She’s a person who gave everything that she had and really went from a player who was really not a basketball player to a player over the last couple of years at Lakehead who has been great for us and a great team player.”
It was an all-around better performance by the Thunderwolves (2-5) on Saturday night. They cut their turnovers to 19 and hit seven three-pointers, compared to just two the night prior.
They also got a stellar 12 minutes out of pivot Gillian Lavoie, often a forgotten piece of the puzzle this season. The Thunder Bay native scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in limited action, also making the most of her opportunity.
“When you’re given the opportunity you’ve got to come out here and prove why you deserve playing time,” Lavoie said.
Getting a win in the pre-Christmas finale was the important thing, she added.
“We’ve been struggling against top 10 teams, but we’ve been in it mostly every game. We’ve been playing against them very well and it’s just nice to know that working hard has finally paid off in the last game,” Lavoie said.
Rookie Nikki Ylagan was the lone LU player to hit double digits, tying York’s Megan MacLeod with a game-high 14 points. Lakehead guard Jerika Baldin was as generous as always, dishing out 10 assists while turning the ball over just once.
Lakehead won three of the four quarters, taking a 32-24 lead into halftime. York fell to 0-4.
