March 17, 2017 at 5:13 p.m.
Hodags turned corner late in season
Hodags turned corner late in season
The Hodags earned a home playoff win over Antigo before being bounced from the WIAA Division 2 tournament by eventual state semifinalist Hortonville, but coach Ryan Clark called the season-ending 75-54 loss to the Polar Bears "probably the best game we've played all year."
"We had an opportunity to show these people how we play, what our program looks like and I'm proud of them that we looked very fundamental and tough. They represented themselves really well," he said following the Feb. 23 loss.
Here's five things to know about this year's Lady Hodags.
Kaly's comeback
If there was any doubt senior Kaly Kostrova would return to the scoring form she showed prior to breaking her collarbone midway through her junior campaign, those questions were quickly put to bed as she averaged 21.7 points per game in the Hodags' first seven contests of the season, prior to a pertussis outbreak that prevented the team from playing for three weeks.
Kostrova finished the season averaging 19.3 points per game and closed with the best game of her career, 35 points in the playoff loss to Hortonville.
"She just flat out just finds ways to score," Clark said. "Sometimes I'm surprised to find out how many points she did put up in a game because she can score in a quiet way as well."
Kostrova was well on her way to a 1,000-point career if not for missing 11 games last year with the injury. As it was she finished with 931 for her career - 463 of which came this season. Clark said of the 36 games Kostrova played between her junior and senior years, she scored 20 points or more 20 times despite being the center of attention.
"She faced a lot of double teams and a lot of faceguarding moments," he said. "Obviously every team, defensive assignment No. 1 was to try to take her out of the game, limit her touches and scoring opportunities."
Little Al emerges
In the 2015-16 season guard Eva O'Melia took a big step forward offensively, going from one of the team's best defenders to one of its leading scorers following the Kostrova injury. Junior Ally Seefeldt had a similar emergence this year.
Seefeldt averaged 3.9 points per game in GNC play last year, but jumped up to 11.1 points per game this year. Overall, she was the team's No. 2 scorer behind Kostrova this season, averaging a shade over 10 points a game, while still being one of the team's top on-ball defenders.
"Taking the ball to the basket she got better at and she got better at her jump shot as well," Clark said. "You can't help but see her making an impact on defense, rebounding, everywhere. She had a great year. She really made a good step up from last year to this year and she's going to have to make another big step for next year as well."
By the numbers
Seefeldt also led the team with 80 steals, 29 more than the next best on the team (Kostrova). Six-foot post player Ali Schickert led the team in rebounding, averaging 6.1 boards per contest.
The team shared the ball extremely well. Kostrova led the way with 53 assists, but freshman Kenedy Van Zile (51), junior Maddie Meyer (50) and Seefeldt (47) weren't far behind.
Despite finishing four games under .500 this season, the Hodags were only outscored by a net 14 points in 24 games and held opponents to 37 percent shooting overall, according to data supplied by the team.
Better second half
The Hodags finished smack dab in the middle of the Great Northern Conference, fourth place with a 6-6 league mark. The Hodags were swept by the three teams who finished off them in the conference - Lakeland, Medford and Northland Pines - and swept the three teams they placed ahead of in league play - Antigo, Mosinee and Tomahawk.
But one interesting note is aside from Tomahawk, which the Hodags played twice in a three-day stretch in February, the scoring margin against each conference team was the same or improved the second time around (see graphic).
Part of the reason for improvement was a change in philosophy during the season. With Seefeldt, Van Zile, Alayna Franson and other quick guards the Hodags committed to playing faster this season - especially after the three-week pertussis break.
"We're not very big but we have some quickness and some feistiness and I thought that started to show itself," Clark said in early January. "That's something we were going to build on going into the break and we will work on after the break here."
What's next
The Hodags don't lose a lot in terms of numbers next season, but those they lose had a significant impact on the program.
Between Kostrova and Schickert, Rhinelander graduates 51 percent of its scoring, and 33 percent of its rebounding from this season.
Ten players who saw varsity playing time this season are slated to return, however, led by key rotation members Van Zile, Seefedlt, Franson, Meyer and Brooke Mork. What's more, Clark figures the GNC to be wide open next season because 16 of this year's 22 all-conference recipients were seniors.
"It's going to come down to who wins the offeseason," he told the team earlier this month. "Do the little things consistently as often as you can."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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