THUNDER BAY – They’re banged up beyond belief, but you’d never know it judging by their latest effort.
The Lakehead Thunderwolves women’s basketball team on Friday night raced out to a 23-0 lead over the visiting Algoma Thunderbirds and cruised to an 88-56 non-conference triumph.
Leashja Grant scored 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds in just 18 minutes of court time to lead the Thunderwolves to the win.
But that’s expected.
It’s finding production from unexpected sources or having veteran talent step up to fill the gap that LU coach Jon Kreiner was looking for on Friday night.
He found it in guard Kielly McDonough, who scored 11 points, including three three-pointers, and fourth-year forward Bridget O’Reilly, who drained 16 points, hauled in eight boards and added five assists.
Kreiner entered play minus star forward Katelyn Andrea, out for the season with a knee injury, and August Ricketts, who could miss 2017-18 after suffering a concussion earlier in non-conference play. Add in injuries to guard Rachel Weber and highly touted recruit Tiffany Reynolds and there was plenty of room for someone to jump in and impress.
“Our coach always talks about adversity,” McDonough said. “That’s when things happen to you and you’ve just got to fight through them. He always just tells us to play through adversity because it won’t hurt you, it makes you stronger and become closer as a team, to want to play for the players who are out and get where we still can.
“And hopefully those players can get back soon with us.”
McDonough, who starred at Hammarskjold High School and played sporadically in her rookie year with the Wolves, was ecstatic with her latest effort, given the chance to start.
The Thunder Bay native added four rebounds and an assist in 27 minutes on the court and hopes to build on that going forward.
“I think today was probably one of the best games I’ve played with this team. I just came out with confidence, picturing myself on the court before the game started. I just started doing what I do best and not trying to overdo things,” she said. “I just played my role and it happened to go well.”
O’Reilly’s effort was less of a surprise.
After all, she’s been doing it for three seasons, often overshadowed, but always an integral part of her team’s success – especially from long-distance range.
O’Reilly said everything went right in the game’s early stages.
“I think we were all kind of locked into the game right at the start. They didn’t really seem to ready. A lot of the points were transition. We ran down the floor and they were easy baskets,” O’Reilly said.
“That’s what really got us ahead early in the game.”
The Wolves led 27-4 after one and 43-23 at the half, outscoring Algoma 30-20 in the third to go up 30 and put the game out of reach for good.
Nikki Ylagen, battling injuries of her own, had 13 points for LU, Lily Gruber-Schulz matching her total. Karina Cole and Jamerka Martin led the Thunderbirds with 10 points apiece.
