January 30, 2017 at 2:11 p.m.
Lady Hodags fade late against Medford
Raiders finish on 13-0 run, beat RHS 41-36
Lady Hodags fade late against Medford
The Hodags were shut out over the final 8:20 of regulation as Medford came from behind to win 41-36 in a Great Northern Conference contest at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Rhinelander (5-8, 3-5 Great Northern) went ahead 36-28 on a Maddie Meyer 3-pointer and went ice cold from there as Medford (9-7, 6-2 Great Northern) reeled off the last 13 points and went ahead for good on a Sophia Pernsteiner shot in the lane with 1:47 to play.
"We just didn't play well (enough) in the second half to win," RHS girls' basketball coach Ryan Clark said. "We'll regroup, but this is a tough one to lose."
Until the final few minutes, the Hodags seemed to be in control of the contest. They led most of the way, enjoyed a 25-20 lead at halftime and the eight-point margin following Meyer's 3 was their largest lead of the game.
"It was a battle," Clark said. "I don't think it was good basketball on either side, but it was two teams playing hard. It was competitive, but I told them even at halftime we had a five-point lead but we had missed some layups that we needed to make."
"In a game like this, we're just leaving points off the board and it's going to come down to an end," Clark added.
Tori Lammar began the comeback for the Raiders with an open 3 from the top of the key with 6:19 to play. Cassie Poehler hit a pair of free throws Medford's next trip down the floor to trim the gap to three.
Meanwhile, Rhinelander was suddenly unable to crack Medford's defense, which came into the contest tops in the GNC allowing 40.7 points per game. The Raiders used a combination of backcourt pressure and a mix of 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones to flummox the Hodags down the stretch. Shots weren't falling from the inside or the outside and Rhinelander turned it over too often in the half court.
"We struggled to score. We only had 11 points in the second half. That's not going to win many games doing that," Clark said.
Pernsteiner had a string of six consecutive points in three trips down the floor to give the Raiders the lead for good. Two of the makes came from isolation touches on the left block, the other came on an inbounds play where Pernsteiner was allowed to cut freely down the left side of the lane toward the basket for an easy layup.
Hailee Clausnitzer made 2 of 4 free throws over the final minute as Medford stretched the margin to two possessions.
"I thought the kids played hard," Clark said. "I thought it was a battle. It was a good battle by two pretty even teams, but they did a much better job down the stretch and found a way to win."
Rhinelander's two top scorers - Kaly Kostrova and Ally Seefeldt - were held to a combined two points in the second half as the Hodags went 5 of 23 from the field over the final 18 minutes and shot 30 percent (13 of 43) overall. Kostrova's 12 points still led all scorers. Seefeldt finished with 11, all of which came in the first half.
"They just sat in their little 1-3-1 but Little Ally, I know she's really sick today, so I got her some rests here and there to try to give her a few breaks, but she missed a few inside," Clark said. "She wasn't her typical self. She's got to keep looking for the outside shot too. She cuts well off the zone so she was finding herself down low, but we need to get her on the high side a little bit so she can get some open looks from there.
"Kaly, they kind of shadowed her. Even though it's a zone, they're finding ways to get one or two always next to her but she's still got to pull the trigger. If she's got her feet set, a contested shot is still a good shot for her. She's got to be able to pull the trigger on that."
Medford, known for its balance on offense, had it on Friday. Lammar, Clausnitzer, Pernsteiner and Poehler each had eight points while Lainey Brunner chipped in seven off the bench. The Raiders finished the night 16 of 38 (42 percent) from the field.
The Hodags will return to action Thursday night at conference-leading Lakeland. Rhinelander lost to the T-Birds 76-63 Jan. 20 at the Miazga Gym.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.