January 21, 2021 at 8:45 a.m.
Lawrence reaches 1,000 points as RHS girls down Ashland 56-43
Lawrence reaches 1,000 points as RHS girls down Ashland 56-43
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Rebecca Lawrence's name is officially in the pantheon of the most prolific scores in Rhinelander High School girls' basketball history.
Lawrence reached a milestone Tuesday night, scoring her 1,000th career point. It was part of a 20-point night for the Hodag senior as Rhinelander cruised past Ashland 56-43 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Lawrence became only the four player in team history to reach the 1,000-point mark, joining Kenedy Van Zile, Allison Carroll and Becky Knutson.
"She's a fantastic player, but she's been just a great senior leader, great teammate," Clark said. "She's had a great year. She's been over 20 almost every game. I'm really proud of her. Her teammates are proud of her. They were just as excited as she was. That shows what kind of leader she is."
Lawrence needed only four points on Tuesday to reach the milestone, but it took awhile to get there. She made only one of her first six attempts from the field before she fouled on an inside look with 9:35 remaining in the first half, and knocked down both ensuing free throws to hit 1,000.
The Hodags called timeout immediately after the shot to recognize the accomplishment. Clark spoke briefly during the stoppage and a banner commemorating Lawrence's 1,000th point was unveiled in front of the home crowd.
"I was crying a little bit," Lawrence said. "My teammates have always been there for me, so to do it with them by my side was really nice and really exciting. I knew they were all happy for me to get that huge milestone. Just doing it with them was one of the better things, and then winning the game just made it even better."
With the milestone out of the way, Rhinelander picked its play up a bit, ending the first half on an 18-8 run to go up 31-15 at the break.
Ashland's Maya Anderson had a big game in defeat, tallying 20 points and 17 rebounds. She had a personal 7-0 run that cut Rhinelander's lead to 36-24 with 13 minutes to play, but Lawrence answered by scoring the Hodags' next five points, sparking a 17-6 push that gave Rhinelander it's largest lead, 53-30, with 5:47 to play.
Though the Hodags never trailed, Clark said his team was not particularly crisp against the non-conference opponent. Rhinelander shot 43.5% from the field (20 of 46), but was only 14 of 24 from the foul line and committed 23 turnovers.
"We won, but there's a lot of things that were exposed tonight that we'll have to shore up in practice," he said.
Rhinelander had balance in the scorebook as Ella Schiek scored a season-high 11 points. Annika Johnson added nine points and Ava Lamers chipped in seven. Grace Moravchik scored 14 in defeat for the Oredockers.
Trainers' room
The Hodags got junior post Brynn Brzycki back after missing a number of games due to health concerns. She scored four in her return. The bad news, however, is that both Megan Brown and Kat Metropulos were unable to play, hindering the Hodags' depth.
"Losing Megan is a huge lose in the sense that she can just take a kid and completely shut them down," Clark noted. "She also handles the ball well for us. She's our second-best player, I think, in a lot of games."
Up next
Rhinelander (10-9, 5-3 Great Northern) travels to Northland Pines Friday night and the team has picked up a second non-conference game at Three Lakes, set for 5 p.m. Saturday.
The Hodags beat both teams in a back-to-back situation earlier in the year, downing Northland Pines 67-30 in Rhinelander Dec. 4 before knocking of the Bluejays 52-43 the following day in Three Lakes.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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