January 29, 2020 at 1:24 p.m.
Big run propels Lady Hodags past Ashland
Big run propels Lady Hodags past Ashland
Rhinelander opened the second half on a 36-3 run and cruised past the Oredockers 71-43 Tuesday night in Ashland.
As it has been much of the season, Rhinelander's pressure and transition game was too much for the Oredockers as the Hodags pulled out to a 31-20 lead at halftime and then exploded over the first nine minutes of the second half in which the defense did not concede a field goal to Ashland.
"Just like that we went from (up) 11 to 15 to 20 to 40," Rhinelander coach Ryan Clark said. "It's a good win for us because Ashland's in our regional bracket. If we keep playing well, hopefully they give us a good seed."
The trick was clamping down on a taller Ashland squad. The Hodags forced more turnovers in the second half and denied good looks inside as the lead ballooned in the second half.
"We just talked about let's just keep taking away that inside and I told Kenedy (Van Zile) on the 1-2-2 press just be a little more unpredictable as far denying the reversal pass at times and sometimes not," Clark said. "I thought we executed really well in the press. The girls started recognizing what the tendencies of Ashland are and they just pounced on them. 28-3 run to start the second half and, just like that, it's a running clock."
Rhinelander's big three once again did the majority of the heavy lifting. Van Zile led all scorers with 27 points, leaving her 46 points shy of 1,500 for her career. Cynthia Beavers had 22 and Rebecca Lawrence chipped in 11.
"Kenedy played a really good basketball game, shot the ball extremely well, but her ball handling, she's doing all those dribble moves. She was guarded pretty tight, but she was unbelievable," Clark noted. "Cynthia was again just a strong, powerful post player inside."
Down 12-11 with roughly 8 1/2 minutes remaining in the half, Van Zile got a steal and pushed the ball to Beavers to convert a 2-on-1 to put Rhinelander ahead. Lawrence followed with a 3 on the Hodags' next possession and the Hodags pulled away with a 20-8 run to end the half.
"They're a big, physical team and I think they're pretty well coached. We tried to take away their strengths, but they did a nice job in the first half against us," Clark said.
Ashland had balanced scoring. Mayella Brinker and Zoe Pearce each had 10 points while Hailee Wilson added nine. Annika Johnson added seven points off the bench for Rhinelander.
"I thought Annika's starting to score a little bit for us, which is nice and I thought Audrey (Schiek) gave us good minutes today," Clark noted.
Rhinelander (11-4, 6-0 Great Northern) has won six straight as it gets set to face Mosinee in a GNC showdown on the road Friday night. The Indians (11-3, 5-2 Great Northern) sit 1 1/2 games behind Rhinelander for the conference lead, tied with Lakeland for the runner-up spot in the conference after Lakeland edged Medford 56-52 Tuesday night.
The Hodags held off Mosinee 70-69 in the first meeting between the teams Dec. 13 in Rhinelander.
"It's going to be a battle. Mosinee has to knock us off to stay in the race," Clark said. "I'm excited for it. You want to be in these moments. If you're an athlete, you want the pressure to be on you and see what you can do in a hostile environment. I think with our experience with Kenedy and Cynthia and Rebecca, I think they're ready for the challenge."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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