February 19, 2018 at 12:41 p.m.
Another strong second half propels Lady Hodags to win
RHS opens playoffs tonight vs. Waupaca
Another strong second half propels Lady Hodags to win
True to recent form, the Hodags put the pedal down in the second half Friday, following a sluggish start, and defeated Antigo 59-27 at Sheldon Fieldhouse to close out the regular season.
Rhinelander's lead was only one with under two minutes to play in the opening half, but the Hodags closed the first on a 5-0 run and held Antigo to only two field goals over the first 16 minutes of the second half.
"I'm not sure why we've done that three games in a row now where we've had a little struggle in the first half," Clark said. "I told the girls it can't be a lack of confidence. You've got to take the floor with some confidence and your pressure should just dictate the flow from start to finish.
"We didn't really make any adjustments. They were packing (the defense) in (the lane) and we didn't shoot real well, but you can't allow missed shots to be the outcome of the game."
The Hodags got a spark to start the second from the youngest member of its starting five. Freshman Marissa Martin made a couple of free throws off an offensive rebound, got a steal that led to a Kenedy Van Zile layup and made another basket as the Hodags opened the second on a 6-0 run.
"She did a fantastic job. She gave us a good spark to start the second half and that got us rolling a bit. It's fun when we can get up and down the court. It suits our strength," Clark said.
From there the Hodags' defense was stifling, forcing Antigo into 20 second-half turnovers and 37 overall. McKenzie Schroepfer hit a 2 with 14:20 to play and Lily Nicholson added a basket underneath with 10:30 to play, but those were the only buckets Antigo could muster until the final two minutes of the game.
"Against any quality opponent to hold them to four points for a (long) while is pretty impressive," Clark said. "We got turnovers. We got some scores off of it right to start the second half. It was a great way to end the game."
Kenedy Van Zile scored 25 points for Rhinelander, including 15 as part of Rhinelander's decisive 34-4 second half run. Ally Seefeldt added nine points while Maddie Meyer and Rebecca Lawrence each had eight.
"Maddie Meyer's starting to score a little bit. Rebecca and Marissa, I kind of use them as two peas in a pod. We kind of combine their stats and they're starting to score," Clark said.
Schroepfer scored seven of her team-high nine points for Antigo in the final 1:32 of the contest against the Rhinelander reserves.
Waupaca to open playoffs
For the third straight year, the Lady Hodags will open the WIAA tournament at home as they host the 12th-seeded Waupaca Comets tonight at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
The Comets are 1-21 on the season, their lone win coming back on Dec. 2 against fellow Northeastern Conference foe Marinette. Waupaca followed that three days later with a 50-47 loss to Mosinee, the only like opponent the Hodags and the Comets share. Rhinelander swept Mosinee in GNC play this season.
"They'll be very similar to an Antigo," Clark said. "They played Mosinee earlier in the year and lost by three. They're young but they're tall. They have two six-footers and a 5-11. They definitely have the size advantage. We'll just try to go to our strength, get up and down and try to turn the pace in our favor. If we do that, we'll be just fine."
While the Comets have three tall players in 6-0 junior Kalyn Klug, 5-11 senior Alana Radley and 6-0 freshman Savanna Wehmeyer, they are led by 5-8 sophomore swing player Emma Smidt, who's averaging 12.3 points per game.
"It's playoffs and you never know how kids will respond," Clark said. "You lose and your season's over and, for the seniors, their career's over. There's a lot of pressure, lot of external pressure, but I think our kids will come out strong and I think they're excited to have a home game."
The winner of tonight's game will travel to fourth-seeded Merrill on Friday, with the winner of that game likely drawing top-seeded Hortonville in the regional finals a night later.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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