Entering the week, Lakehead was tied with Brock and McMaster for third in the OUA West with only two of those teams eventually able to host postseason play. With the win, the ‘Wolves (12-7) took advantage of McMaster’s Wednesday loss to Western, and are now alone in third place.
Fifth-year senior Shannon Vellinga led LU with 18 points on 8-11 shooting while junior Lindsay Druery rounded out a solid frontcourt effort for the ‘Wolves with 10 points.
Senior point guard Tasia McKenna had 14 points, five assists and four steals while Chelsea Nekuliak had nine points off the bench. In all, Lakehead reserves scored 36 bench points to Brock’s eight.
Emily McKay had 15 points to lead the Badgers with Devyn Cuncic and Hillary Woodside also reached double figures with 11 and 10, respectively.
Lakehead shot a solid 46.8% from the field while limiting Brock to a 32.8% effort. Scoring in the paint and off turnovers were important factors in the Pack’s win as the visitors held a 28-14 advantage in the key while outscoring the hosts 22-8 off turnovers.
“Against a team that leads the country in assists and steals, I thought we did a great job to beat Brock in both those categories,” said Thunderwolves head coach Jon Kreiner. “Our defence against their best player, Whitney Gorges was a key but I thought our great team offence in the second half was the biggest factor in helping us win.
Chelsea played well for us off the bench and Shannon had a great game tonight. We struggled a bit with rebounding and will have to improve in that area tomorrow night.”
Lakehead will
play for the sweep on Saturday night with action tipping off at 6 p.m.
