Lily Gruber-Schulz takes a dead aim at the basket as she gets set to shoot a free throw at a recent Lakehead University game. In her fourth year at the Thunder Bay, Ontario college, Lily is a two-time captain of the Thunderwolves basketball team. Although she has been playing hurt for much of this season Lily is averaging 7.5 rebounds and 7.3 points per game. She is also shooting 75 percent from the free throw line. Photo courtesy of Lakehead University
It seems like yesterday that Lily Gruber-Schulz was in a Viking uniform playing basketball for the Cook County High School Vikings.
As a high-scoring, fierce defender and a strong rebounding guard/ forward, Lily was one of the few Viking girls to score over 1,000 points in her high school career. She achieved that milestone in a game against Ely on January 16, 2016.
Today, four years have slipped by, and Gruber- Schulz, an honors student in the psychology program at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, is now wearing number 11 for the Thunderwolves women’s team. She is also in her second year as a captain of the team.
“We are a young team this year,” said Lily. “During the first half of the season we only won two games, but hopefully we will pick up a few more wins after the break.”
Speaking of breaks, Lily is playing with a broken calcaneus (heel) bone in her foot. “I chose not to have surgical intervention to fix my foot because if I did, I would be out for the year, and I didn’t want to miss the season.”
Broken foot or no broken foot, Lily has been averaging 25.5 minutes per game, as well as averaging 7.5 rebounds and 7.3 points per contest. “I decided I would play through my injury the best that I can,” she said.
With the second half of their season coming up after the Christmas break, Lily is hoping for better things from the Thunderwolves.
“We haven’t had the best season. We haven’t taken off like I hoped we would. There are a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the team, and it has taken some time to learn to play together. I’m pretty confident that we will work together better in the second half of the season and pick up a few more wins.”
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