January 14, 2019 at 1:03 p.m.
Lady Hodags get past Antigo, move to 6-0 in GNC
Lady Hodags get past Antigo, move to 6-0 in GNC
Kenedy Van Zile led three Hodags in double digits as Rhinelander outlasted Antigo 55-42 at Sheldon Fieldhouse in the second half of a boys-girls doubleheader.
Rhinelander shot only 30.5 percent from the field (18 of 59) and committed 21 turnovers, but did enough on the defensive end of the floor to earn the win. The Hodags held the Red Robins to 36 percent shooting (18 of 50) and forced 35 turnovers.
The Hodags also won despite not being able to get the pace of the game to the up-and-down tempo they prefer.
"That was frustrating and part of the slow down was we forced a ton of turnovers, but every turnover's a dead ball," coach Ryan Clark said. "It's either a travel or they throw it out of bounds. It's almost like you turn it over and then we've got to go up against their packed in defense.
"We've just got to get better. We'll take the W but we've just got to get better."
Antigo never led in the contest, but hung around for the better part of 27 minutes. A 14-2 run of the Hodags going into and coming out of the halftime break proved to be the difference.
Rhinelander led 24-21 when it started to crank things up ahead of halftime. Rhinelander used a 5-0 spurt before the break to take a 29-21 lead at the break and then scored nine in a row after an Antigo bucket - including eight straight by senior Brooke Mork - to take a 38-23 lead with 14:30 remaining.
"Brooke hit a couple shots. We came out of the half and just tried to extend our pressure a little bit more to see if we could create a few more turnovers off a trap or a picked off pass," Clark said.
A 6-0 push got Antigo back within seven at 41-34 with 9 minutes to play, but he Hodags answered with an 8-0 to push the lead back to 15 points with 5:30 remaining.
Still, Clark said he knew Rhinelander won Friday night without playing its basketball, something the team will have to change with a tough stretch of games on the horizon.
"We didn't make anything, and then we got frustrated because we know we're the more talented team," he said. "We started forcing shots because we were trying to create a run individually and we didn't share the ball very well. Or, we'd try to drive past them and just run into two defenders sitting in the lane."
Kenedy Van Zile led all scorers with 18 points, but was well off her average of 29.8 points per game in conference play. Mork had 11 points for Rhinelander and Cynthia Beavers finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
Riley McCann scored 13 off the bench to lead Antigo.
The win moves Rhinelander to 6-0 in the GNC halfway through the conference season, a game ahead of Lakeland, which clipped Mosinee 46-41 on the road Friday night in a battle for second place in the GNC at the turn.
Rhinelander travels to Mosinee this coming Friday and will host Lakeland as part of a doubleheader Jan. 24 at the Miazga Gym.
"The conference is wide open," Clark said. "We might be undefeated but the next two (conference) games will determine a lot for three teams for sure."
Rhinelander travels to Wisconsin Valley Conference-leading Stevens Point tonight for a non-conference matchup.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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