November 30, 2020 at 8:57 a.m.
Lady Hodags split Wausau road trip
Lady Hodags split Wausau road trip
Not surprisingly, results were mixed in the Hodags' first two contests of the new season.
The Hodags struggled against pressure last Tuesday as they fell on the road 63-35 at Wausau West. Things looked better on Friday night, however, as Rhinelander led buzzer to buzzer in a 67-48 win at Wausau East.
Rhinelander enters the 2020-21 season having graduated GNC co-players of the year Kenedy Van Zile and Cynthia Beavers. Coach Ryan Clark said Van Zile stopped by practice following last Tuesday's loss at Wausau West and offered some sound advice.
"She said, 'I think part of the problem is the girls think they have a lot of pressure to hold the standard that we've created the last couple of years. They just need to relax,'" Clark said. "We talked about that too. This is a new team, new dynamic, new personality so I put the challenge on them to build as a team."
The Hodags had plenty of room to grow after committing 34 turnovers and shooting only 28% from the field on Tuesday night at West. Rhinelander turned things around Friday night, shooting 47% and committing only 13 turnovers.
"I know this wasn't the same caliber as West, but I think we made a nice step up as far as not forcing things, being more under control, better awareness with the ball in our hands," Clark said.
Rhinelander 67, Wausau East 48
Rebecca Lawrence, the leading returning scorer from last year's squad, had the hot hand on Friday night. The senior made her final 10 shots as she scored a career-high 35 points in the Hodags' 19-point win over the Lumberjacks.
Lawrence hit her last three shots of the first half, part of an 11-0 run over the final 2:40 that gave the Hodags a 38-19 lead at the break, and then hit all seven of her shots in the second half. Lawrence finished the game 15 of 21 from the field, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
"A game like this where she can get up and down the court will definitely play to her strengths," Clark said. "She's kind of our do everything girl for us and she's a fantastic lead. She settled in and, obviously, she's got the ability to put up a lot of points."
Lawrence scored the first five points of the second half as the Hodags pushed the lead to 25 and cruised the rest of the way. Especially early in the, Rhinelander was able to get Wausau East out of sorts. The Lumberjacks were only 8 of 24 from the field in the first half, committed 17 turnovers and had four players with two or more fouls.
"We didn't create a ton of turnovers in the press, but we got them to take quick shots and we rebounded it," Clark said. "Just by rebounding it, we had the momentum and the numbers going the other way and I thought we got a lot of easy baskets."
All nine players on the Hodags' varsity roster scored Friday night. Senior guard Ella Schiek had eight points, all in the first half, while juniors Annika Johnson and Brynn Brzycki had six points each.
"I thought Ella Schiek finished really well," Clark noted. "She had two and-ones. She's really kind of coming on for us more than just a defensive player. She took care of the basketball, but her finishing and screening was nice to see."
Abby Thompson scored 22 points to lead Wausau East while Maddy Krueger added nine points. The two hit back-to-back 3s to get the Lumberjacks within 61-46 with 4:08 remaining, but Lawrence scored on an offensive rebound her next trip down the court and Rhinelander outscored East 6-2 down the stretch.
Wausau West 63, Rhinelander 35
Rhinelander actually held an 18-12 lead with just under seven minutes to play in the first half on Tuesday night, but then Wausau West ratcheted up the defensive pressure and pulled away.
The Warriors went on a 32-3 run during a 15-plus minute stretch between the first and second halves that saw Rhinelander make only one field goal, and commit multiple turnovers against West's full-court pressure.
"About two-thirds of the way into the first half Wausau West recognized that we're pretty suspect handling the basketball, so they just denied the ball inbounds really hard, which we talked about and prepared for," Clark said. "Once they started putting real pressure on us - sometimes they had all five defenders on our side of the floor - we just couldn't break the press."
West turned what was a six-point deficit into a 28-20 lead at the break and then scored the first 13 points of the second half, including a play where Rhinelander inadvertently scored on its own basket on an inbound play in the backcourt. The Hodags never got within 20 points the remainder of the second half.
Brzycki, a 5-11 junior, scored a career-high 13 points off the bench on 5 of 9 shooting and proved to be a solid post presence for the Hodags.
"For her to come out here in her first game as a junior, score 13 and be a presence for us was a nice play," Clark said.
Lawrence had 11 points on 2 of 13 shooting after finding herself in foul trouble late in the first half.
Senior Kiley Deaton paced Wausau West with 18 points.
Up next
The Hodags open Great Northern Conference play tonight at home against one of the preseason-conference favorites, Lakeland.
"Lakeland's got a great chance to be the conference champions, so we get that team first on Tuesday at our place," Clark said. "I think for our kids, it's got to be a gut-check game. They're very talented. They press really, really well. They've got athletes, they've got shooters and they're confident. I know that game is circled on their calendar."
Should the Hodags defeat Lakeland tonight, they would match Lakeland's GNC record of 29 consecutive wins between 2016-2018. Rhinelander snapped that streak Dec. 7, 2018 with a 59-45 win at Lakeland, part of the Hodags' current 28-game conference winning streak.
The game will start at 7:15 p.m. Attendance will be limited to two fans per varsity athlete, according to fan attendance parameters announced by Rhinelander and the Great Northern Conference on Thursday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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