April 9, 2020 at 3:03 p.m.
Team Review: RHS girls' basketball: Lady Hodags do one better in remarkable year
Team Review: RHS girls' basketball: Lady Hodags do one better in remarkable year
The Hodags went 19-6 this season, a game better than its remarkable 2018-19 campaign. While Rhinelander was undefeated conference champions for the second year in a row, that extra win came in the playoffs as the Hodags avenged last year's playoff defeat to New London and advanced to the sectional round for the first time in more than two decades.
"You guys did more than you can ever imagine for our program, so I thank you for that," coach Ryan Clark told the team earlier this month during its season-ending banquet. "This year was a great ride. I think you had great perspective. You guys gave everything you had during the moment. I thought you owned the moment over and over."
Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.
Close Calls
Much like the 2018-19 season, the Hodags took a little while to get going, coming out of the gates 4-4 during the first month-plus of the season. Rhinelander only lost twice following the new year. A hard-fought loss at home to Stevens Point in a foul-plagued game was the team's lone defeat until a loss to eventual state semifinalist Hortonville in the sectional semifinals.
Early in the season, even the wins were difficult to come by.
The Hodags were tested by Mosinee in their second conference game of the year, nearly relinquishing a five-point lead over the final 40 seconds in a 70-69 victory. Cynthia Beavers recorded a game-clinching steal in the final seconds as Mosinee attempted to head down the floor for an attempt at a game-winning shot.
A week later, against eventual Division 4 state semifinalist Crandon, Rhinelander rallied from down 17 at halftime to edge the Cardinals 50-48. Then, in the first meeting of the season Jan. 3 against rival Lakeland, Rebecca Lawrence got a go-ahead bucket with 1:23 remaining and the Hodags held off the T-Birds 72-69.
"I can't say enough about their resolve and their fortitude," Clark said following the Crandon victory. "That was just guts and toughness there. They didn't wilt. They just kept playing ... I'm so proud of the girls. You win a game like this and it says a lot about your character as a team. Great win."
The Hodags became more accustomed to winning close games this season. Last year, Rhinelander won all 21 conference games by at least 11 points and had an average margin of victory of 27.8 points.
While the margin of victory was only marginally smaller this year, at 27.4 points, the Hodags had four conference games decided by 11 points or fewer and were 8-2 overall in games decided by fewer than four scores.
End-of-year success
Those early season close calls gave Rhinelander some breathing room in its GNC title defense, and afforded the team the opportunity to clinch the conference title outright in the 10th game of its 12-game league schedule. Fittingly enough, the opportunity came at Lakeland.
The Hodags responded that night defensively, holding the T-Birds leading scorers Julianna Ouimette and Abby Parris to a combined 17 points, as they pulled away down the stretch to a 66-55 victory - clinching the conference title on Lakeland's floor.
"There's just a lot of emotion, especially for us seniors and being able to experience this again for the second year together. It just means so much to all of us," senior point guard Kenedy Van Zile said.
That win started a six-game winning streak for Rhinelander toward the end of the season that culminated with a 66-55 victory over an upset-minded Wausau East team in the regional semifinals and a 60-51 win over New London in the regional finals.
The Hodags had to rely on some of the fortitude it displayed in early season victories in the playoff triumph against New London. Rhinelander spotted New London a 12-0 lead, and was down by as many as 13 in the first half, before rallying back to within one at the break and pulling away in the second half.
"It's amazing. This is the best feeling ever right now," Beavers said following the regional final win. "I'm so excited our season gets to continue. I did not want it to come to an end tonight. It's so amazing, I'm speechless about it."
The big three
Much of Rhinelander's success this season centered around it's so called "big three" scorers - Van Zile, Beavers and Lawrence.
Their impact on the game can be seen in the statistics as they were the top three players on the team in the following categories: scoring, rebounds, assists, steals, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, plus-minus rating and minutes played. Van Zile's scoring numbers were down slightly from her torrid 2018-19 campaign, but she still averaged 21.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 4.1 steals per game. She shared conference player of the year honors with Beavers, whose numbers nearly doubled from last season, when she joined the team a couple of weeks into the season as a transfer from Three Lakes. Beavers averaged 15.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 3.8 steals a game, while leading the team in shooting efficiency from the foul line (74.2%) and from beyond the 3-point arc (32.4%).
Lawrence finished the season averaging 13.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.3 steals a game as she earned second-team All-GNC honors.
"I'm not naive. We've won a lot of games (over the last two seasons) and it's not about my coaching," Clark said following the season-ending loss to Hortonville. "It's about Kenedy Van Zile at the point. We've had Cynthia Beavers. We have the co-GNC players of the year on our team, which has allowed everybody else to fit into a nice little role. Defenses are so focused on Kenedy and Cynthia, it allows those others to make plays."
History
Moreover, for Van Zile, this season was about reaching milestones not likely to be matched or surpassed for quite some time.
Van Zile became the RHS girls' basketball program's all-time leading scorer on Dec. 6, surpassing Becky Knutson in a win over Northland Pines. She reached 1,500 points for her career Feb. 8 against Stevens Point, one year to the day from when she reached 1,000 career points. Then, on Feb. 20, Van Zile recorded her 1,567th point, overtaking Mike Flory as Rhinelander's top scorer, regardless of gender.
"I can't say enough about what a career she's had. She's set the standard pretty high for young girls coming up in our program," Clark said after the game. "I thought the entire crowd gave her a really nice ovation, recognized her accomplishment. She's been a four-year starter. The fans in the community know her pretty well and have watched her play and have enjoyed watching her play on the court."
Van Zile, who received All-state honors in Division 2 from the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association this season, finished her career with 1,670 points.
What's Next
The 2020-21 season will look significantly different for the Hodags. Van Zile and Beavers will be the two most notable losses, but the team will also graduate rotational player Sophia McGinnis and reserve Lexi Morrison.
Lawrence will be the only returning player who averaged more than three points per game. Scrappy defensive-minded guards Ella Schiek and Megan Brown round out the starters slated to return. The team will also bring back Audrey Schiek, Annika Johnson, McKenzie Gilman, Ava Lamers, Brynn Brzycki and Kat Metropulos from this year's varsity roster.
It will be a tall order for the Hodags to duplicate their success from the last two seasons. With other teams in the conference improving, Clark said staying on top will be a challenge..
"You've got to look at yourself and say, 'A year from now, I have to dominate my current self. If I can't say that, I have not done enough to get better,'" he said. "We're losing some very good basketball players, so the rest that are coming back, if they want to continue that success, they've got to put in a lot of time on their own, individually, and get better. Otherwise, if they want to get to a sectional or win a regional, there's a lot of work to be done."
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