THUNDER BAY – Locked into a postseason berth, the Lakehead Thunderwolves are fighting for the right to host their playoff opener.
To do so Jon Kreiner’s team has to win its final two games of the OUA women’s basketball regular season.
Thanks to a 10-0 start that grew to 17-2 lead later in the opening quarter, LU is halfway there.
Lily Gruber-Schulz poured in 20 points and Bridget O’Reilly added 15 to lead the way offensively and the Wolves pounded the visiting Waterloo Warriors 61-41 on Friday night at the Thunderdome, improving to 8-10 in the process.
It was the start that set the tone, said the rookie Gruber-Schulz, a native of Grand Marais, Minn. who also grabbed seven rebounds.
“We knew this was an important game so we went out there with a lot of energy. I think basketball is a game of up and downs. Each team has its ups and its downs, so we kind of leveled off a little bit. But a halftime we had a good talk about how we had to get our energy up.”
The Warriors (5-14), had chipped away at LU’s lead in the second, clawing to within three points before Gillian Lavoie buried a jumper at the buzzer to extend the Wolves lead to 30-25 at the break.
They dominated the third and it was more of the same in the fourth.
Kreiner said he’s a little concerned about the drop in energy in the second quarter, but all in all it was a good effort from start to finish in a must-win game.
“Overall I thought our defence was pretty good tonight, we got some tips and deflections and I thought Rachel (Webber) made a difference when she was out there on the court defensively.”
Offensively, it was Gruber-Schulz leading the charge, posting her second 20-point game in recent weeks for a team missing centre August Ricketts, likely out for the season.
Her performance inside was key in a game that saw the Warriors take away LU’s usually potent outside shooting game.
“Bridget struggled a little bit from three, so she was able to get to the hole, which was nice. Lily helped us really establish a nice inside game,” Kreiner said.
“Lily really did a great job finding a way to use her left hand. She’s pretty deadly when she can use her left hand out there. As a rookie you’re still making mistakes, but we’re in a position where she has to learn from them and we have to live with her mistakes.”
It was Gruber-Schulz’s energy level that impressed Kreiner the most.
“She put up another 20, which was fantastic because we were really struggling to score. But her energy level lifted our team, which was great.”
Kristen Osborne led Waterloo with 10 points, the lone Warriors player to hit double digits.
