January 4, 2019 at 1:27 p.m.
Splash sisters
Lady Hodags sink 12 3s in 76-35 rout of Tomahawk
Splash sisters
Seven different Hodags made 3-pointers Thursday night, and the Hodags were 12 of 26 from beyond the arc overall, in a 76-35 rout of Tomahawk at Hatchet Fieldhouse.
Nine different players attempted a 3 for the Hodags, who expanded their bench after opening a large lead. Conversely, Tomahawk did not attempt a 3 the entire contest and Rhinelander's production from beyond the 3-point line outscored Tomahawk's total for the game, 36-35.
"They came out in a zone and our girls were confident to shoot 3s and hit a few shots right away," Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. "We had quite a few kids hit shots and the beauty of it is we probably spend more time on shooting than we ever have before, especially the 3-point shot, because I think it changes the game a lot. The beauty is kids hit shots today. Seven kids hit a 3-pointer. We're not going to shoot like that every game, but that's something we can build on."
The outcome of the game was hardly ever in doubt. Rhinelander opened on a 12-0 run over the first 2 minutes, 33 seconds. Another 12-0 spurt later in the half pushed the lead to 30 points and Rhinelander eventually took a 49-16 lead into halftime.
The second half started much like the first. Rhinelander opened on a 13-1 run over the first five minutes to push the lead to 45 points and cruised the rest of the way.
The Hodags' press flummoxed Tomahawk in the first half. Rhinelander forced 28 first-half turnovers and the Hatchets turned the ball over 36 times overall.
"We wanted to get the tempo up and I thought we did a pretty good job - a few too many fouls in the press but, overall, I thought they struggled against our pressure," Clark said. "We ran a little bit and got some easy baskets."
Kenedy Van Zile led the parade from the 3-point line for the Hodags. She was 4 of 9 from beyond the arc as she finished with a game-high 24 points. But Van Zile was far from alone when it came to pulling the trigger from distance. Rebecca Lawrence was 3 of 7 from 3-point range as she finished with 13 points. Ella Schiek, Annika Johnson, Payton Van Zile, Brooke Mork and Sophia McGinnis added 3-pointers as well.
"I thought Rebecca Lawrence had a confident game, working on her shot," Clark said. "We're going to need to hit shots to win games. Most of the games we've lost we haven't hit anything, so we'll take one of these games."
Cynthia Beavers finished one rebound shy of a double-double for the Hodags with 12 points and nine boards, seven of which came on the offensive glass. Tiffany DuPlayee led Tomahawk with 18 points while Sierra Graeber had 11 points and nine rebounds.
After back-to-back losses in their home holiday tournament dropped the Hodags back to .500 overall on the season, Clark said it was good to bounce back with a convincing win to ring in the new year.
"We had a couple of good practices the last two days," Clark said. "I was actually pretty pleased. We were focused and we were cleaning up some things we were struggling with. Some of those showed up tonight but I think, more importantly, they can't come up Tuesday night when we play Medford."
That game on Tuesday will take place at the Miazga Gym. Medford had defending GNC champ Lakeland on the ropes much of the way Thursday night at Raider Hall before falling to the T-Birds, 59-55.
"We're going to need all of these kids to step up. Next week we've got two really nice teams, Medford and Antigo (next Friday at Antigo), that can give us problems," Clark said. "They're physical. They're bigger than us. They're well-coached. They're disciplined."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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