January 25, 2021 at 8:28 a.m.
Lady Hodags split weekend games
Lady Hodags split weekend games
The Hodags led for the entire game Friday night against the Eagles. Rhinelander pulled away in the second part of the of the first half, using a 23-6 run over the final nine minutes to take a 36-17 lead at the break.
"We pressed them. We didn't get a ton of turnovers. I thought Pines handled it pretty well, or it was a dead ball turnover, so we didn't get a lot of run outs or transitions the first half," coach Ryan Clark said.
The Eagles maintained the gap early in the second half, but Rhinelander closed with a 20-4 push over the final 10 minutes to put the game away.
Rebecca Lawrence led all scorers with 28 points, hitting four 3-pointers on the night. Annika Johnson had a double-double for Rhinelander with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
"I feel like Annika's made a big jump. In the month of January, Annika's taken a big step for us," Clark said. "She's scoring a lot more, looking to score a little bit, but she's also rebounding and defending. She's much more comfortable on the court."
Nora Gremban led Northland Pines with 12 points. Rhinelander held the Eagles to 29.2% from the field (14 of 48) and forced 33 turnovers.
Three Lakes 60, Rhinelander 48
Saturday's game was a different story for Rhinelander as the Hodags played from behind virtually all of the first half and rallied to take a lead in the second only to watch their chances fade away late.
Sydney Lurvey scored 25 points for the Bluejays, including 18 in the second half, as Three Lakes rallied for the win.
Lurvey hit four triples in the contests, including two key 3s over the final 2:25 with the Hodags down four on both occasions.
"They did a good job against us hitting 3s in transition. When they broke through our press, they found their shooter," Clark said.
Rhinelander trailed much of the first half, but closed on a 9-2 run, including an Ava Lamers layup just before the buzzer to tie the game at 22 at the break. Rhinelander scored the first five points of the second to build its largest lead of the game, but Three Lakes regained control, going on an 11-2 run between the 10:36 and 6:23 marks to go ahead 45-38.
For only the second time this season, Lawrence did not lead Rhinelander in scoring as the Bluejays held her to a season-low 11 points on 4 of 23 shooting. Overall, Rhinelander shot 28.8% on the evening (15 of 52).
"Rebecca struggled a little bit. She couldn't get a few to finish early on," Clark said. "They definitely shadowed her and always knew where she was at all times, which we're going to see going forward as we get closer to playoffs."
Lamers stepped up with 18 in the contest, including four 3-pointers while Johnson had 12 for Rhinelander before fouling out late in the contest.
"Ava and Annika really stepped up," Clark said. "We didn't play too bad. We had some mistakes, but I just told the girls we've got to keep learning from these. Unfortunately, it's not fun to lose, but we battled hard. I think there's some things we can clean up.
Kara Sowinski added 10 points in the win for Three Lakes while Mari Szews had nine points and nine rebounds.
Up next
Rhinelander was scheduled to host Tomahawk tonight at the Miazga Gym, but Tomahawk has forfeited the game due to a lack of numbers. According to an email among GNC officials provided to the River News, the Hatchets cited a number of injuries and other circumstances as they will forfeit the remainder of the Great Northern Conference contests.
With the forfeit win already credited to the Hodags, Rhinelander's record improves to 12-10, and 7-3 in the GNC.
According to Clark, as of Saturday no replacement for the Hatchet game was imminent, which would give Rhinelander a full week of practice before hosting GNC-leading Mosinee on Friday night.
"We haven't had more than a couple practices consecutively all season," he said. "We've already got 21 games in now. It's been go, go, go. We'll get four days of practice. We've got a lot of stuff we can work on and finalize."
Mosinee defeated Rhinelander 59-34 in the teams' first meeting Dec. 11 in Mosinee.
"Mosinee came out and really just pressured us the first time we played them. We recognize that that's our fatal flaw. We have to be able to tackle our fears and get better," Clark said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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