December 14, 2022 at 1:44 p.m.
Shawano ends Lady Hodags' win streak
Shawano ends Lady Hodags' win streak
His premonition proved correct. The Hawks used their height to control the offensive glass and forced the Hodags to score in the half court. Rhinelander could not keep up and took a 62-54 loss at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Six-foot freshman Leah Nordin scored 19 of her game-high 24 points in the second half and also wreaked havoc at the top of Shawano's 1-3-1 trap.
Ava Lamers scored 21 points to lead Rhinelander (4-4, 2-0 Great Northern), which seemed to be just a step behind much of the night against a Shawano team that had three starters taller than anyone on Rhinelander's roster.
"I thought it would become a half court game. I didn't think we could turn them over in the press and they proved that," Clark said. "They were pretty strong with the ball. I just told the girls I thought they executed their half court game just better than we did."
Rhinelander still had life, down four with the basketball with a minute to play, but Abigail Bystol came up with a steal and scored in transition to put Shawano up six with 50 seconds remaining. Nordin added a pair of free throws late to ice it.
Shawano, which came in shooting just 48% from the foul line, outscored Rhinelander 20-3 at the stripe and controlled the glass. The Hawks had 19 offensive rebounds in the contest, including 14 in the second half, and held a 41-20 edge on the boards overall.
The Hawks were also in the bonus just over eight minutes into the second half and attempted 22 more free throws than the Hodags did.
"We didn't do a good job on the perimeter, defensively," Clark said. "In the first half we gave up a lot of flash cuts on the weak side. We just didn't deny the flash cut and the they got a lot of baskets. The second half, I thought we gave up a lot of penetration. We'd try to rotate over and, even if they missed the shot, they had rebounding position. They beat us up on the boards and we fouled them."
Shawano led much of the way after opening the game on a 10-3 run. Rhinelander took a brief 16-14 lead on a Lily Treder 3 with 8:27 left in the first and then went up 25-24 on a Kelsey Winter jumper with 3:27 left before the break. Shawano used a 6-3 run to close the first half, led 30-28 at halftime and stretched the lead to as many as nine points midway through the second half.
Rhinelander committed 18 turnovers on the night as Shawano's two 6-footers - Nordin and Bystol - made life difficult on the edge, constantly trapping Rhinelander in the 1-3-1.
"Any time (Nordin) went out we thought we had a little better advantage to attack. Her length on top, she really does a pretty good job of using all of her size and she moves well. She gave us some issues," Clark said. "Once we got the ball moving, we got some nice possessions - we either pitched to the corner, dove in and got a basket or we made the extra pass for an open 3. But I think we had around 20 turnovers and (Nordin) was a big part of it."
Treder had 15 points for Rhinelander, including a 3 that cut the lead to 52-49 with 4:27 left, but she eventually fouled out with 1:56 remaining. Nordin banked in a long 2 with 4:12 left and scored six points in Shawano's game-ending 10-3 run.
Trinity Popelka scored 12 for Shawano and Bystol chipped in 11 which shot 39% (20 of 52) from the field. Nordin had nine rebounds, finishing one shy of a double-double.
Lamers was held below her season average of 28 points per game for Rhinelander. She was 8 of 20 from the field as the Hodags shot 43% (21 of 49) overall.
Next up, Rhinelander travels to Mosinee (3-5, 2-1) tonight for what figures to be a key, early-season placement game in the GNC.
"Mosinee, they're quick, athletic," Clark said. "They graduated everybody, but they've got a really good freshmen and a nice underclassman group that's pretty athletic. It should be a good battle. We're on the road. They're really quick. They'll pressure you hard on defense and it should be just a good Friday night game for us. I do think we're probably fighting for that second place, so I think it will be a good battle."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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