January 23, 2019 at 11:59 a.m.
The stage is set
Lady Hodags beat Ashland 56-39, push winning streak to six games ahead of GNC showdown with Lakeland
The stage is set
The Hodags remained perfect in the first month of 2019, getting a 31-point effort from Kenedy Van Zile Tuesday night as they defeated Ashland 56-39 in a non-conference game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
It was the sixth straight win for the Hodags (11-5, 7-0 Great Northern) who now get set to take on two-time defending GNC champion Lakeland (10-5, 6-1 Great Northern) Friday night at the Miazga Gym in a battle of the conference's two best teams.
It was a two-player show for the Hodags much of Tuesday night. Van Zile scored 21 points by halftime as the Hodags took a 31-15 lead at the break. The junior is now an even 40 points away from 1,000 for her high school career.
Inside, sophomore Rebecca Lawrence had a strong game as well, scoring a season-high 16 in the contest.
On a night where some of his players struggled to find energy, those two, along with Payton Van Zile, had it in spades, coach Ryan Clark said.
"Kenedy had good energy. I thought Payton had good energy. She's been practicing well so I was glad she got that pick and steal for a layup. I was proud of her for that," Clark said. "Rebecca was all over the court. I thought Rebecca, she had great legs, good pop in her feet. What did she get, 16 (points)? That's probably a career high for Rebecca. She's the all-American kid and I'm just proud of her for that. That was fantastic."
The Hodags won despite a so-so night on the offensive end of the floor. The team shot 35 percent overall (21 of 60) and was only 3 of 21 from 3-point range - with all three makes from distance courtesy of Kenedy Van Zile.
Defense was another matter for the Hodags, who held the Oredockers to 36 percent from the floor (14 of 39) and forced 30 turnovers.
"They had 30 turnovers but they actually did a very good job against our press in the sense that they were patient," Clark said. "They would pass through it. Most teams we'd eventually get to dribble through it, but they were disciplined. They kept passing it, reverse it, reverse it again and then finally hit the middle. I'm surprised we forced 30 turnovers because they handled our pressure about as well as any team has in the last couple of weeks."
Rhinelander's biggest run came right at the start of the contest - a 14-2 spurt over the first 5 minutes, 12 seconds. From there, the Hodags gradually inched away to a 16-point halftime lead and put the game away with an 11-2 run midway through the second half.
Ashland's leading scorer, Maddy Cabe, had 12 points and 15 rebounds Tuesday night. Abbi Moreland chipped in eight points in the loss for the Oredockers.
Kenedy Van Zile and Lawrence scored all but nine points for the Hodags in the contest, but Clark said he will need more players to step up down the stretch - especially considering the team has lost sophomore guard Marissa Martin - who Clark said transferred out of the district this week due to a family reason.
"We'll take the W but disappointed. We don't have Marissa anymore. We need kids to step up," he said.
The Hodags will need all hands on deck Friday with an opportunity to put the school's first girls' basketball conference title well within reach. Should Rhinelander knock off Lakeland, it would be two games up in the GNC standings with four games to play -against the bottom four teams in the GNC. If Lakeland wins, the two teams would be deadlocked atop the conference standings with a third of the season remaining.
"What a great opportunity," Clark said. "To me, I love these games because stats don't matter. Now the pressure's on and you have the opportunity to control everything if you get the win on Friday night. If we lose, it's tied and one slip up and (Lakeland could win the conference). We couldn't ask for anything better. We've done our job getting this far, putting ourselves in position for a big game with a good crowd."
Rhinelander knocked off Lakeland 59-45 in Minocqua back on Dec. 7, snapping the T-Birds' 29-game GNC winning streak. Lakeland has won six conference games in a row since, including a 76-37 dismantling of Northland Pines Tuesday night.
"I would bet our kids come out and play well, but I know (Lakeland coach) Melissa (Ouimette)'s kids will come out and play well as well. It should be a fun battle here on Friday night," Clark said.
Tip off is set for 6 p.m., kicking off a girls-boys basketball doubleheader between the two schools.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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