January 3, 2018 at 1:10 p.m.
Lady Hodags hand Tomahawk lopsided defeat
Lady Hodags hand Tomahawk lopsided defeat
The Lady Hodags rushed out to a 27-0 lead in an impressive opening salvo and took care of the one-win Hatchets 67-22.
Kenedy Van Zile had 17 points and Brooke Mork scored 12 - all in the first half - for Rhinelander, which built a 46-7 halftime lead before handing the game over to mainly bench players and junior varsity call-ups in the second half.
"I had a feeling we could get on them pretty quick," RHS girls' basketball coach Ryan Clark said. "It was 27-0 and we took the press off. Then I didn't want to get up too much because I wanted to get (more kids) playing time before the running clock."
The running clock rule went into effect with nine minutes to play in the second half, with the Hodags up 60-16 at the time. The Hodags led by as many as 49 points in the contest.
Van Zile scored 15 points in Rhinelander's opening run, which spanned the first 5:27 of the contest. Maddie Meyer also hit back-to-back 3s as part of the run.
"I thought Kenedy Van Zile came out and shot the ball well in the first half, and Maddie Meyer did as well," Clark said. "I think the key was we just wanted to get out to a good start and take care of the basketball. I think we had three turnovers in the first half."
Without leading scorer Sierra Graeber, Tomahawk didn't score until Jennifer DuPlayee hit a baseline jump shot with 12:03 remaining in the first. The Hatchets finished 25 percent from the field (10 of 40) and committed 23 turnovers.
Ally Seefeldt finished with 10 points for Rhinelander, including three quick buckets to start the second as the Hodags went ahead 54-11. Freshman Rebecca Lawrence, with a half of eligibility after playing the JV game earlier in the evening, scored nine points to lead Rhinelander in the second half.
"I thought we got everyone a lot of playing time," Clark said. "We're trying to look at Rebecca Lawrence and Marissa Martin, two freshmen. They're right there. They're going to be nice varsity players next year as sophomores, but I wanted to get them some minutes tonight and they did a nice job."
Rhinelander finished the night 56 percent from the field (29 of 52) and committed only nine turnovers. Eight different players scored for the Hodags and every player who took the floor attempted at least one shot.
"In a game like this, you don't want to be sloppy," Clark said. "You want to take care of the basketball, execute what your plan is and then get everyone a lot of playing minutes and have a good time on the floor."
Rapids runs by Rhinelander
The Lady Hodags went cold during the second half against Wisconsin Rapids last Friday, falling to the Raiders 59-46 in the final game of the Rapids Holiday Tournament.
Rhinelander led 33-32 at halftime, but managed only 13 points over the final 18 minutes.
"It was kind of a slugfest in the second half," Clark said, noting that Wisconsin Rapids slowed the game down in the half court after it took the lead early in the second half.
The key juncture, Clark said, was a missed Rhinelander layup midway through the second, followed by a Raider basket that put Rapids ahead 50-44. Seefeldt, who led all scorers with 20 points, picked up her fourth foul moments later and the Hodags scored only two more points the rest of the way.
Kenedy Van Zile added 14 for Rhinelander. She and Seefeldt were the only two Rhinelander players to score in the second half.
"The problem is we need more scorers than just two in the second half. We've got to work on getting more scoring contributions from everybody," Clark said.
In contrast, Rapids had six players score in the second half. Maddie Paitel led the Raiders with 15 points, Vanessa Vechinski had 14 and Breally Kautzer finished with 12.
The Hodags finished 0-2 in the Rapids tournament after falling to Madison La Follette 59-38 a day earlier.
"We went 0-2 in the tournament, but we played two good teams and we competed against both of them for a while," Clark said. "Today, we competed almost until the end. Hopefully that makes us a little better. We've just got to keep growing."
Rhinelander (6-5, 3-1 Great Northern) returns to action next Tuesday at Medford.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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