THUNDER BAY -- Jon Kreiner’s not sure he’s seen anything like it.
Jerika Baldin racked her brain and agreed.
A night after giving up 92 points to the visiting Brock Badgers, the Lakehead Thunderwolves found their defensive mojo on Saturday night, leading them to a crucial 71-47 win over a division rival.
It’s almost unheard of, Baldin said.
“(Coach) actually made a joke about it before the game and said if we want to win we’d have to defend and cut off that (many points),” said Baldin, who collected 13 points and dished out seven assists to lead her side to victory.
“It actually happened and he was in shock just as much as us.”
Kreiner said after Friday’s eight-point loss he told his players to shut off their phones, but to expect a lot of video clips to look at when they woke up the next morning.
He focused particularly on the second and fourth quarters, when the Badgers had their way offensively against the Thunderwolves.
The message was heard loud and clear.
“I’ve never shaved off 45 points off a defensive effort,” Kreiner said.
“We went through exactly what we wanted to do, both in zone and man (coverage). And then we went back in the changing room and talked about it again. But none of that means anything unless you can handle those changes and adjustments.”
The biggest difference was their approach to covering Brock centre Kira Cornelissen, who torched the Wolves for 28 points on Friday.
They held her to just 17 on Saturday – she completed the double-double with 10 rebounds – and shut down the Badgers perimeter game, holding them to just one three-pointer in 19 attempts.
As a team, Brock hit just 18 of 63 shots from the field.
Lakehead wasn’t much better, hitting 34.8 per cent of the 69 shots they took, but made good at the free-throw line, missing just three times in 22 trips.
“When we play with that energy and intensity we’re one of the best transition teams in the conference and we really push the ball well when we have both Jerika and Rachel (Webber) on at the same time,” Kreiner said.
“Jerika was phenomenal all weekend.”
The Thunderwolves won all four quarters, a rarity this season, starting with a 17-15 edge in the first. By halftime the lead was 11, the turning point a pair of back-to-back offensive board-turned-into-baskets by rookie Lily Gruber-Schulz that turned a five-point game into a nine-point lead.
Gruber-Schulz found her inspiration in the stands, where her mother, a cancer survivor, watched the Wolves triumph, the team dressed in pink uniforms in support of cancer research.
“I definitely felt like I was playing for her tonight, so it was especially good that I had a good game,” the Grand Marais, Minn. native said.
Gruber-Schulz finished with six points and six boards in just 12 minutes of court time.
A 10-0 run in the third put the game away, punctuated by a rare Baldin three-pointer.
Lakehead next weekend heads to the nation’s capital to take on Ottawa and No. 4 Carleton.
