THUNDER BAY – For at least a night, the Lakehead Thunderwolves are atop the OUA West – despite Leashja Grant’s double-double streak coming to an end after 14 games.
Grant, who played just 20 minutes in what proved to be a one-side affair against the visiting last-place Waterloo Warriors, scored 25 to lead all players in points, but the OUA’s leading scorer and rebounder only managed to grab seven boards in limited playing time.
Not to worry, said Lakehead coach Jon Kreiner, whose injury plagued team has nonetheless climbed into a first-place tie with Windsor and McMaster – teams the Wolves will face the next two weekends – all three squads owning 11-4 records.
“She’ll definitely take the win. She’ll definitely put that higher. Obviously, it’s still disappointing. You’re always looking at that,” Kreiner said. “But on the offensive side of things I thought our team did a really good position to score and she did that really well.”
So well the Warriors had no idea what had hit them in the opening five minutes of the contest. Grant scored 10 quick points and the Thunderwolves raced out to a 14-2 lead en route to a fifth straight triumph.
Grant, one of the leading MVP candidates in the league, succeeded despite double and – at times – triple coverage, dragging three-fifths of the Waterloo team to the basket on one second-quarter hoop that restored Lakehad’s lead to double digits, up 27-16. It was the start of an 11-0 run that gave the home side a 36-16 lead at the break.
They’d push their lead to as much as 31 in the fourth, Kreiner pulling Grant in a mercy move with more than seven minutes to go.
Without Grant, LU struggled to score, Tianna Warwick-Dawkins dropping the Thunderwolves only bucket until the dying seconds, when Westgate Tigers graduate Sam Read buried a three-pointer, to the delight of the hometown Thunderdome crowd.
While Grant provided the bulk of the offence, she certainly wasn’t the only contributor.
American import sophomore Lily Gruber-Schulz finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, playing a high-energy game the team’s going to need going forward.
“Usually that’s my role on the team, to bring the energy in warm-ups and stuff like that,” she said. “But it was good to come out and play well. It’s kind of hard in your second year. People kind of scout you then and know you in the scouting report, so you have to adjust to it.”
More importantly, she said, the team has pulled even with Windsor and McMaster, two teams that have gotten top 10 love this season, while Lakehead has yet to receive even a single vote from the media panel that puts out the weekly poll.
“It feels really good. We’ve had some ups and downs, but we’ve really come together as a team. We put in a lot of work and to be able to be there, it really paid off.”
Lakehead had 20 steals on the night, while guard Jerika Baldin chipped in 11 assists.
Hillary Ferguson led Waterloo (1-14) with 10 points and six rebounds.
The two teams play again on Saturday night. Tip-off is 6 p.m. at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse.
