Thunderwolves have plan of attack in post-Williams world

With or without Jylisa Williams, the Lakehead Thunderwolves were going to be in tough this season.

Division rivals McMaster and Brock are expected to open the season as top five teams in the nation. Guelph, who will land in Thunder Bay this weekend to kick off the start of OUA regular-season play, always presents a challenge.

The OUA Central might be the toughest division, not only in Ontario, but in all of Canada.

Not a great season to be in transition.

Williams, the record-setting point guard and reigning CIS player of the year, graduated and is plying her trade in Germany. Also gone are guards Corina Bruni and Katie Ulakovic, key members of last year’s Thunderwolves, who made it to the OUA semifinal.

To add to the misery, coach Jon Kreiner figures to be without post Essa Jacobsen for at least the first half of the season, sidelined by a back injury.

It’s going to be an adjustment, but one the veteran coach is confident won’t be detoured by too many obstacles.

“I think it’s been a pretty good transition so far,” Kreiner said. “To some degree, this early on, it may be somewhat of a surprising transition so far. Our kids probably gained quite a bit from Jylisa in terms of what it takes to be successful, so her legacy has been left and imprinted on this team in that perspective.”

Thunder Bay’s Katelyn Andrea, who returned last weekend from a concussion scare, figures to e a flocal point for the Wolves up front, as will outside shooters Blair McNaughton and Bridget O’Reilly.

Kreiner also has high hopes for sophomore August Ricketts and guard Jerika Baldin, thrust into a starting role.

Newcomers Amanda Miller and Rachel Webber are also expected to eat up plenty of minutes and contribute at both ends of the court.
“What we do have is a nice mix of kids that don’t know anything other than playing hard and laying it on the line.”

Baldin admitted it won’t be easy finding a way to win without Williams and company.

Rather than the focus and scoring coming from one player, this season the offense will be spread out.

That could prove advantageous.

“It’s going to be tough, but I feel it’s going to be hard to defend us,” said Baldin, named her team’s athlete of the month for October.

“I feel that it’s hard to defend us now. Instead of shutting down just one player or a couple of shooters, we never know who’s going to step up. Every night it’s a different player stepping up, scoring the top points or getting the most rebounds.”

Expectations remain high.

With the Windsor dynasty possibly coming to an end, the OUA could be wide open. The Thunderwolves could easily find themselves in the title hunt, Kreiner said.

“We feel we can compete with anyone,” Kreiner said. “And I think what it’s going to come down to is how we compete in the last five minutes of each game.”