December 18, 2017 at 11:53 a.m.
Lady Hodags race by Pines 69-47
Lady Hodags race by Pines 69-47
The Hodags never trailed in the contest and pulled away to a 69-47 victory at the Northland Pines Fieldhouse.
Rhinelander's prominent backcourt duo of Ally Seefeldt and Kenedy Van Zile nearly outscored the Eagles (3-5, 1-3 Great Northern) by themselves. Seefeldt had a game-high 24 points while Van Zile pitched in 21 to lead the Hodags (5-2, 2-1 Great Northern).
"I thought we played pretty well," said RHS coach Ryan Clark, who was making his once-per-season trip back to Northland Pines, where he was head boys' basketball coach before leaving for Rhinelander. "I thought everyone that came in gave us good minutes on the floor. I told the girls we have better depth. I was a little more frequent to the bench early and often and I thought that paid off tonight, too."
The Hodags' big three of Seefeldt, Van Zile and Brooke Mork - all of whom came into the contest averaging more than 10 points per game - carried the team in the first half, scoring all 34 points as Rhinelander built a 14-point lead at the break.
Pines got back to within 11 six minutes into the second half, but the Hodags kept the Eagles at bay as they got more players involved in the scoring. Molly Wagler hit a pair of free throws and Maddie Meyer knocked down a 3 in transition as part of a 6-0 run that restored the lead to 17 at 50-33.
Seefeldt and Van Zile came back to deliver the knockout blow. Van Zile hit a 3, followed back back-to-back Seefeldt layups to put the advantage to 63-42 with 5:19 to play.
Mork scored 10 for the Hodags, while Wagler added six. In all eight different players got involved in the scoring for Rhinelander.
"Molly had a really nice game," Clark noted. "The first half she was posting up and we didn't see her. At halftime we talked about that a little bit. We were looking to reverse the ball before checking it to the post play and she had the girl at her back. It was important in the second half to get the ball inside to Molly. We did and she finished well. She does a good job of flashing to the elbow and passing to the open teammate. We've got to utilize that more often.
"Maddie hit that triple in transition. That was nice. Lexie Rick came in and gave us some rebounds. Erika Jorgensen on the offensive glass as well. I think Payton Van Zile give me great effort and heart. She had some great dribble kickouts tonight. She really played a nice game," he added.
Teresa Kopanski led a balanced Northland Pines attack with 12 points. Kirsten Lindemann had 10 and Jacqueline Smith scored eight as the Eagles, at times, found ways to beat Rhinelander's full-court pressure and get easy layup attempts.
"We've still got a lot of work there," Clark said. "They attacked it more off the dribble than the pass. We've got to work better on defending that live ball on the dribble and those angles."
The Hodags return to action on Thursday against Wausau West in the first part of a doubleheader at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. Tipoff is set for 6:15 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.