February 26, 2020 at 2:02 p.m.
Lady Hodags to start playoff run in friendly confines of Miazga Gym
Lady Hodags to start playoff run in friendly confines of Miazga Gym
The road to the Resch Center, and the WIAA girls' state basketball tournament in Green Bay, begins tomorrow night for the Lady Hodags, who are the No. 2 seed in their half sectional and will open the tournament against 10th-seeded Wausau East at the Miazga Gym.
Rhinelander is hoping that will not be its only home game this weekend. A win tomorrow night would give the Hodags the opportunity to host the regional finals Saturday night, where a potential playoff rematch against New London could await.
"It's awesome. That was one of our goals. No. 1 was win the conference and No. 2 was we wanted to get a two-seed and host the regional," coach Ryan Clark said. "To me, that would be a special season to cap this weekend off with a regional championship here at home. I know the support we'll get from the community will be fantastic."
But, playoff basketball is unpredictable, as the Hodags witnessed Tuesday night when they scouted Wausau East's game against heavily-favored Merrill.
Maddie Krueger hit a go-ahead 3 in the final minute and then East watched as Merrill had a game-winning putback attempt waved off at the buzzer as the Lumberjacks shocked the Bluejays 39-38. It was Wausau East's first win over a Wisconsin Valley Conference rival since the 2009-10 season when it knocked off Rhinelander twice during a winless season for the Hodags.
That Krueger hit the game-winning shot isn't a big surprise, considering she was in the top 10 in the Valley, hitting 34.6% of her 3s. Junior Abby Thompson is East's leading scorer, at 13.8 points per game in conference play and was second in the Valley at 3.8 assists per game. Senior Elizabeth Boulanger averaged seven rebounds a game in conference play and was a Valley-best 81.6% at the free throw line this season.
"I think their coach (Jeff Waldvogel) does a really good job," Clark said. "If they can get patient and get into their sets. They run their pattern offense. They're real patient and they have good actions inside and they have good actions for shots.
"They're not real deep. They go about seven deep. They have a nice senior inside who's about six-foot (Boulanger), more of an athletic forward, not really a post player, but she finishes around the basket well and they've got a couple kids that can shoot it."
Clark said the key to Friday's contest will be a similar refrain to what Rhinelander has done to plenty of Great Northern Conference teams this year, speed them up with the press, force turnovers and score in transition.
"Our style of play, it's a good matchup for us," Clark said. "Our style of play is a little different than theirs and we have a lot more speed. The keys will be not fouling, not beating ourselves, but there will be lots of pressure on the ball and just trying to get them uncomfortable."
This year was the first time in several years that Wausau East was not on the Hodags' non-conference schedule. Rhinelander downed the Lumberjacks the last time they met 81-48 during the Tom Kislow Memorial in Antigo Nov. 23, 2018.
Assuming Rhinelander gets past its first test tomorrow night, it could run into the same opponent that ended its season a year ago, New London. The Bulldogs went 14-8 overall, and 10-2 in the Bay Conference, to earn the No. 3 seed. They open the tournament tonight against sixth-seeded Shawano, which they beat 75-48 last week to end the regular season.
Samantha Pfefferle, a 5-5 senior guard, is New London's leading scorer at 13.5 points per game and a major threat from beyond the 3-point arc, hitting at a 47.1% clip. Conversely, 5-7 swing player Mikayla Henderson likes to pound it inside and is averaging 12.5 points and 4.1 rebounds a game.
Though the Bulldogs do not have a six-footer on the roster, they use the height they have effectively, as Rhinelander found out the hard way in a 53-22 loss in last year's regional final round.
"I think what makes them strong is their zone, their 2-3 zone," Clark said. "They defend the 3-point line very well and their length inside makes it tough to finish. They block a lot of shots.
"But I think we can find ways to beat that and I also think we can get them up and down a little bit more this year. They're not as patient as they were last year, which is nice, because they were very content being really slow."
It's the tempo that really got to Rhinelander last season - not just in the New London game - but in the majority of its losses. Rhinelander averaged only 42.7 points per game in its six losses last year, most of which came against taller teams that were successfully able to beat Rhinelander's press and wear down the Hodags in a half court game.
Rhinelander has done better in that regard this season, and can point to a 50-47 victory over Wisconsin Valley Conference champion Marshfield last Thursday as proof that it doesn't need to play at a breakneck pace this year to win.
"That felt more like a playoff game," Clark said. "When you get to the playoffs defense becomes a little bit more paramount. Usually you're not going to score as many points. Teams are going to really look to get stops. That was a great Marshfield game to play. They're very comparable to the teams we could face in the playoffs coming up."
The Hodags are also more of a balanced team this year in terms of scoring. Kenedy Van Zile averaged 24.6 points per game last year. That's down to 21.7 this year, but the Hodags have had more production from senior Cynthia Beavers and Rebecca Lawrence, who come into the postseason averaging 15.5 and 14.0 points per game, respectively. Both averaged just more than eight points per game a season ago.
In order for Rhinelander to be successful, all three have to be at the top of their game this weekend, Clark added.
"We have to work this week on offensive execution," he said. "We did get a little bit stale and it became too much Kenedy was the scorer and we didn't have enough from Cynthia and Rebecca. We can't have a big one or two, I need all big three to come through."
Tipoff tomorrow, and again Saturday should the Hodags win, will be at 7 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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