THUNDER BAY – If the Lakehead Thunderwolves are going to win an OUA championship, they’ll have to do it entirely on the road.
The Wolves on Saturday were slammed 64-45 by the visiting Laurier Golden Hawks, dashing any hopes they had of hosting the Brock Badgers in Wednesday night’s women’s basketball post-season opener. Instead they’ll travel to St. Catharines, Ont. to begin their playoff quest, entering the second season as the ninth seed.
A win over the Golden Hawks would have resulted in a home playoff date against Brock and the eighth seed.
The Thunderwolves stood tall against Laurier in the opening half, trailing by just one at the break. But they were outgunned in the third and fourth quarters en route to the double-digit defeat.
It was an emotional night for Wolves forwards Gillian Lavoie and Katelyn Zen, who as it turns out were playing their final home game at the Thunderdome.
Lavoie put up a dozen points in her finale, leaving late in the fourth to the cheers of a packed house on senior’s night.
“It’s always nice to score a bit on senior’s night and have some fun while doing it,” the Thunder Bay native said.
“It’s a good time.”
Lavoie found early success in the paint, but the Golden Hawks quickly adjusted, double-teaming LU down low.
And why not – the Thunderwolves couldn’t hit a thing from outside.
In fact, as a whole, they missed all 19 three-pointers they attempted and hit just 18 of 84 shots from the field, a disappointing 21.4 per cent.
“Shots fall and they don’t,” Lavoie said. “It all depends on the night. We just keep shooting, keep positive and hopefully the next one will fall. We’ll just have to get ready for the next game.”
Zen, who could only manage six points, said it was an emotional night, especially knowing this was it at home.
“Sometimes it’s just one of those nights where you don’t make a single three the entire game, 0-for-19. That obviously really hurt us.”
They’ve got a few days to work the kinks out ahead of Wednesday’s game against Brock, a team they played twice during the regular season, splitting a second-half pair last month.
“We kind of know their tendencies and stuff like that,” Zen said. “But then they also know our tendencies, so we’re both going to have to work really hard to get past their scouting report playing us.”
The shooting wasn’t great, coach Jon Kreiner admitted.
But the Wolves weren’t alone on that front, he said.
“I thought we executed on the defensive end against one of the highest-scoring teams in our conference,” Kreiner said. “It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t knock down shots, especially inside.”
The Golden Hawks, who opened the third on a 9-3 run, were led offensively by Nicole Morrison’s 14, the lone player to break the 10-point barrier. Rachel Webber had 13 to lead the Thunderwolves (8-11).
Beyond the arc: Former players Maggie Murphy and Kylie Kuchta were also honoured between games during the senior night ceremonies. Kuchta did not play this season, while Murphy left the team early to focus on school.
