January 29, 2018 at 2:20 p.m.
Lakeland denies Lady Hodags 65-63 in first-place battle
Lakeland denies Lady Hodags 65-63 in first-place battle
Lakeland senior Melissa Bruckner hit back-to-back 3s and scored a layup in transition as part of a decisive 10-2 run as the T-Birds knocked off the Hodags 65-63 in a battle for first place in the GNC Friday at the LUHS Fieldhouse.
"It's a stinger because I think we're the two best teams in the conference," RHS girls' basketball coach Ryan Clark said. "We came to play. They came to play. It was a battle. Bruckner stepped up. She's a good player and she hit those back-to-back 3s in a critical part of the game."
Rhinelander took a 53-51 lead with 2:32 left on a Maddie Meyer layup, but Bruckner answered with a 3 from the right wing and then hit another triple after a Hodags miss on her way to a game-high 25-point performance.
The Hodags got an Ally Seefeldt layup to get back to within two with 1:32 left and then Kenedy Van Zile made a steal in the Lakeland backcourt, but missed a contested layup and Lakeland quickly pushed the ball up the floor in transition to Bruckner on the other end.
It was that kind of game for Rhinelander. The Hodags hung with Lakeland the entire 36 minutes, but the T-Birds came up with the momentum plays when it mattered most.
Rhinelander was also hampered by a 9 of 22 performance from the foul line in the contest.
"That's not going to be good enough," Clark said. "We've got to make plays and we've got to execute. You look back, 9 for 22, that's probably the difference. These were too good teams, mistakes made by both sides, and that would be the glaring difference for sure."
Ironically, Rhinelander made its final four free throws to cut the lead to 63-60 with 10.2 seconds left. Then Bruckner missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 8.7 seconds to play. Alayna Franson secured the rebound for the Hodags but had her pass to half court intercepted by Abby Parris, who hit two foul shots to salt the game away.
Van Zile banked in a 3 at the buzzer to account for the final margin. She scored 24 points to lead the Hodags. Seefeldt added 15 and Meyer scored 12.
Rhinelander played without swing player Brooke Mork (back) for the second straight contest. Meyer stepped up again in her absence, finishing with double-digit points for the second time in as many games. She was one rebound shy of a double-double Friday.
"That's a really big loss, but someone steps up and Maddie Meyer really steps up," Clark said. "She's been doing that in practice and has gotten better. She's had back-to-back great basketball games for us."
Lakeland used a 17-5 run midway through the first half to lead 22-13 and eventually led 31-26 at the break. The Hodags held Lakeland to six points over the first eight minutes to the second and took the lead at 38-37 on a Seefeldt layup with 10:24 remaining. The teams traded the lead nine more times down the stretch.
Parris added 13 for Lakeland, but the 3-point threat was held to 5 of 16 from the field and 0 of 6 from distance. Olivia Killian chipped in 10 points. Overall, Lakeland shot 43 percent (27 of 63) from the field.
"I thought we did a good job defensively on them," Clark said. "We wanted to pinch in on Bruckner. For the most part we did a pretty good job. She's still tough to guard. She's developed her shot. Last year she didn't have a 3-point shot. This year she does and she's a tough player. She reminds me of Ally (Seefeldt). When the game's on the line, she's going to make shots and make plays.
The loss puts Rhinelander two games behind Lakeland in the conference race with four games remaining. The Hodags will have to run the table - and get a lot of help - in order to secure their first conference championship in girls' basketball.
"We don't talk about it much, but everybody knows," Clark said of Rhinelander's lack of a conference title. "This is a great group of seniors. They really are fantastic kids and I knew they wanted to be the first. So it hurts, but we might play them again down the road (in the playoffs) and we know it's going to be an absolute battle if we do."
The Hodags played Crandon Monday in a game that concluded after deadline. Rhinelander hosts Northland Pines in the late game of a boys-girls doubleheader on Friday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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