January 10, 2018 at 1:14 p.m.
Surviving Raider Hall
Van Zile's late FT lifts Hodags to 51-50 win over Medford
Surviving Raider Hall
"We survived more than anything," coach Ryan Clark said.
That was a fact as the Lady Hodags blew a six-point lead over the final minute, regained the lead on a Kenedy Van Zile free throw with roughly 10 seconds left and staved off three last-ditch Medford attempts at the basket to defeat the Raiders 51-50 in a battle for second place in the Great Northern Conference.
"Huge win. Lakeland's still at the top of the conference and they're playing the best ball for sure, but this was a huge win," Clark said. "We're 4-1 (in the GNC). It's always hard to win at Medford, but the girls were tough, they came out ready to play and it was a battle the whole way through."
Up six with less than a minute to go, the Hodags missed a pair of free throws and Medford's Lainey Brunner made a basket on the other end to cut the lead to 50-46. The Hodags missed two more free throws and Sierra Hanson made a basket to cut the lead to two with 40 second left. Then a Mandi Baker steal led to a game-tying layup by Desirae Weissmiller with 13.5 seconds remaining.
"We missed a lot of free throws, most of them down the stretch," Clark said of Rhinelander's 11 of 21 night from the foul line.
Van Zile was fouled on the ensuing inbound. She made the first free throw and missing the second. Medford had two looks at the basket before the ball went out of bounds to Rhinelander. Van Zile was tied up on the ensuing inbound play, and the Raiders were awarded the basketball on the alternating possession with 1.2 seconds left. Medford missed a final shot as time expired as the Hodags held on by the skin of their teeth.
"Alayna did a really nice job on their guard. She got to the rim, but it was contested. Then it was just a mad scramble," Clark said of the last-second sequence. "We'll learn a lot from that game. There's a lot of situations - if we would have made some free throws, taken care of the ball a little bit, that game would have never got within five points."
Rhinelander trailed much of the first half, but finished on a 5-0 run to cut Medford's lead to 26-25 at the break.
Back-to-back 3s by Hailee Clausnitzer pushed Medford's lead to 34-29 with roughly 13 minutes left. From there, the Hodags clamped down defensively and went on a 17-5 run over the next nine minutes to take their largest lead of the game at 46-39.
"We went to a diamond press and we caused some more live ball turnovers in the second half that created some easy baskets," Clark said. "We got the game more up and down and they couldn't grind us as much and be as physical. That helped. That's what extended our lead."
Van Zile led the Hodags with 24 points and Wagler finished with a season-high 10 points while Ally Seefeldt was held to six points, her lowest output since a season-opening loss to Marshfield.
"Kenedy played well," Clark said. "Molly Wagler, that was probably her best game of the year and Maddie Meyer as well. We've got to get Ally to be a little more confident. Her shot was off a little bit, so she was not as confident attacking and shooting, but she still gutted out a good performance for us."
Weissmiller scored 14 to lead Medford and Brunner chipped in 12 for the Raiders, who have dropped back-to-back conference games.
The Hodags are back in action Friday night against Antigo at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium as part of a boys/girls doubleheader. The start time for Friday's games has been switched. The girls will tip off at about 8 p.m., following the boys' game at 6.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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