WBB: Thunderwolves remain playoff contenders as pre-Christmas schedule wraps up

They started slow and ended with a pair of losses against the Brock Badgers, but all in all the Lakehead Thunderwolves women’s basketball team doesn’t have too many complaints about their first-half results.

The Wolves finished the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule at 3-5, which still has the team in contention for a playoff spot in the OUA Central Division – albeit they’ll have to work their way out of last place to catch Guelph, McMaster or Brock in the second half.

They learned in a hurry where their main shortfall lay, said assistant coach Lou Pero, the Guelph Gryphons manhandling them in a pair of opening weekend losses.

“They were really physical and they took us out of our game” Pero said. “That’s where we’ve got to adjust. When teams play us physical, we’ve got to be able to handle that and counter that and not get frustrated with it.

“We’ve got to be physical ourselves and make them pay for coming through our key.”
There was plenty to like about their opening eight games.

Guard Jerika Baldin showed maturity on the court and a willingness to help out her teammates. Baldin leads the nation in assists, with 6.9 a game.

Sophomore forward Bridget O’Reilly has shown a shooter’s touch this season, leading the team with an average of 12 points a night, hitting 23 of 58 from beyond the arc, also tops in the OUA.

And homegrown centre Gillian Lavoie, filling in for an injured Essa Jacobsen, has given the Wolves a presence in the post on many nights, scoring just under 10 points a game while grabbing a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game.

O’Reilly, named the team’s player of the month for November, said she’s actually surprised at how well she’s done, given her slow start in the preseason.

“It’s nice to be able to step up for my team and do something for them to help them out and get some wins out of the season,” O’Reilly said.

“I’m just never usually (the focus). I’m usually the one to get the ball to somebody else, honestly. I shoot the most for our team, but I don’t actually feel like I do that.”

Going forward, the team has confidence, despite the tough start.

“We had a lot of hard to teams to play off the start. We’re a young team, so having a 3-5 start to the season isn’t too bad for only having basically second- and third-year players. We only have one fourth-year player,” O’Reilly said. 

“We’re a young team, trying to work together. Losing (Jylisa Williams), Katie (Ulakovic) and Corina (Bruni) is a big thing, but everybody’s stepping in to do their part and we’re getting our wins any way we can.”