December 12, 2018 at 12:50 p.m.
Crandon cages cold-shooting Hodags
Crandon cages cold-shooting Hodags
Rhinelander shot less than 20 percent from the field and never really challenged Crandon in a 61-40 non-conference loss at the Crandon High School gym.
The Hodags had their work cut out for them against a team that brought back virtually the same lineup that advanced to the WIAA Division 4 state semifinal last year. Crandon controlled the paint, offensively and defensively, and held the Hodags without a field goal for more than 14 minutes to start the first half.
"They're a nice, physical team," Rhinelander coach Ryan Clark said. "They're big and strong kids. Right off the bat, they got some offensive rebounds to start the game. They finished well inside. If you look at the first five, six minutes, we got a ton of shots inside as well, we didn't finish any of them. They can finish through contact. They're well coached. They're a nice basketball team."
Crandon (4-1, 2-0 Northern Lakes) used runs of 9-1 and 12-0 to help build a 25-6 lead before Rhinelander finally made a shot from the floor - a Kenedy Van Zile 3 with 3:38 left in the first half. Marissa Martin made another 3 in the final minute, but the Hodags went to the break down 28-12 and a paltry 2 of 24 from the field.
Rhinelander (4-3, 2-0 Great Northern) made some more shots in the second half, but finished the game 11 of 56 overall. Crandon, by comparison, was an efficient 54 percent from the floor (20 of 37) and held a 50-25 rebounding edge over the Hodags.
The game was reminiscent of a game Nov. 24 against Eau Claire Regis in Antigo. The Hodags were 16 percent from the field that day (8 of 50) and lost 59-30.
"We're not going to win on the road if we can't shoot the basketball better than that," Clark said. "From the beginning, I thought their physicality, their offensive rebounds, their finishing inside (hurt us). I thought we didn't move our feet very well defensively."
Clark admitted he was torn between slowing the game down, a tactic that worked for the Hodags last Friday when they ended Lakeland's 29-game GNC winning streak, or going back to the team's typical run-and-gun style. Clark opted for a slower, half-court game, which seemed to play into Crandon's hands.
"If I could go back, we should have tried to get the tempo up," he said. "It would have been a little ugly, a little rugged and a lot of fouls, but I think it would have been a more even contest if we had been able to get up and down."
Alexa Neilitz led three Cardinal players in double digits with 17 points and added a game-high eight rebounds. Tabitha Renkas had 15 points and Lynzee McGeshick chipped in 12.
Brooke Mork, who hit three 3s in a row late in the second half, led Rhinelander with 12 points. Van Zile was held to a season-low of 11 points, well below her 25.7 point-per-game average entering the contest. Marissa Martin chipped in 11 in the loss for the Hodags.
"Brooke hits some shots. I thought Marissa had a good game. I thought Marissa was looking to score. She cleaned up her traveling. She had good footwork," Clark said. "Those little things, especially for those young sophomores like Hannah (Worachek), Marissa and Rebecca (Lawrence), they'll just go from there."
The Hodags committed only eight turnovers in the loss and forced 23 turnovers from the Cardinals. Rhinelander, however, was not able to parlay many of those turnovers into points.
"We had some nice opportunities, we just didn't finish very well," Clark said. "Even when we'd get turnovers and had a breakaway, we either bobbled the pass, didn't catch it cleanly, missed a lot of inside layups. You can't do that against a good team."
The Hodags host Northland Pines Friday night.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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