July 26, 2017 at 2:00 p.m.
Lady Hodags cap off summer
Lady Hodags cap off summer
"I thought everyone who put in the time took really nice steps up," said the coach, who is in his fifth year at the helm in Rhinelander. "It also allowed me to see, individually, what each kid needs to work on to take another leap forward."
On the court, the results at the end of the season were a little down. The Hodags went 0-5 last weekend in a tournament in Medford and they went 1-1 in D.C. Everest League tournament play Monday in Schofield, beating Wausau East before falling to Amherst. Clark noted that three players projected to make the varsity squad this winter did not participate in those tournaments, however, due to a church mission trip.
Rhinelander went 0-4 in pool play at Medford, falling 38-22 to Marathon, 40-29 to Elk Mound, 44-25 to Colby and 38-25 in overtime to Rib Lake. The Hodags then lost to Northwoods in the crossover game for ninth place, 30-15.
"We didn't really have a full varsity roster so we struggled," Clark said. "But the big picture is we got a lot of kids that got some playing time. Some younger kids at the varsity level got some playing time against some good competition and they got better."
Clark said the summer season didn't necessarily unearth any revelations about his team, but reaffirmed what he already knew while building upon that base information.
"We knew we were going to press," Clark said, referring to what he anticipates will be an undersized team this winter. "But I was able to move some kids kind of all around in the press and give them opportunities to see who can really be the anticipators in the back row and who's really good at getting up there and getting the dribbler out of control or to the sidelines."
Clark added that he feels the Hodags will be a strong defensive team this winter and that his team should be able to limit its turnovers with a number of potential ball-handlers - including guards Alayna Franson, Ally Seefeldt and twins Kenedy and Payton Van Zile - returning.
The big question mark will be how the Hodags replace the roughly 20-point per game production Kaly Kostrova provided, when healthy, over the previous two seasons. With Kostrova off to UW-Superior to play women's basketball, the Hodags will need a player or players to fill the void. Clark said this summer went a long way toward developing this year's potential scorers.
"Kids are more confident to shoot it a little bit," he noted. "Maddie Meyer's really stepped up scoring and Brooke Mork and Molly (Wagler). I thought we took nice steps that we needed to and kids are pretty confident."
Meyer saw some spot starts last season for the Hodags while Mork and Wagler came in off the bench.
The Hodags competed in the Everest League for the second straight year after spending a number of summers in a league at Northland Pines High School in Eagle River. New this summer, Clark said he had a number of incoming eighth graders, freshmen and sophomores participate in a junior varsity league at Marathon High School.
"We always took between seven-to-nine kids and they played two games a week," he said. "That allows them to play at their level and they did really, really well.
"We have a nice, solid nine kids for varsity and we have a nice, solid group of kids for JV and I think we'll also have a JV2. We're not in a situation this year where I have to move a younger kid up to fill numbers. Everyone should be at their right level this year, which is kind of exciting."
The Hodags went 10-14 overall last winter, placing fourth in the Great Northern Conference with a 6-6 league mark. Clark said he anticipated the conference will be up for grabs this year with Antigo, Medford, Northland Pines and Tomahawk welcoming new head coaches for this winter.
Winter practice for the Hodags begins Nov. 6.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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