February 3, 2022 at 8:52 a.m.
Strong second half propels Lady Hodags to win over Wausau East
Strong second half propels Lady Hodags to win over Wausau East
The Hodags used a 24-2 run in the second half to seize control and cruised to a 77-53 win over the Lumberjacks at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Audrey Schiek led three Hodags in double digits with 20 points as the Rhinelander rallied from down four at the half to ride to its 13th win of the season.
Rhinelander's pressure forced 34 turnovers and, eventually, wore down the Lumberjacks in the second half.
"This isn't the first time where we had a nice second half and just put a team away," Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. "The girls they just have an ability where sometimes it looks ugly but it doesn't emotionally affect them. They just kind of grind through it and that's how the practice. The same thing in the weight room and strength and conditioning, they just kind of grind. I think sometimes they're meant for these games."
Annika Johnson scored 10 for Rhinelander and started the decisive run with a 3. Then Schiek converted on a 2-on-1 breakaway from Johnson to give the Hodags the lead for good, up 37-36 with 15:41 to play. East went for nearly seven minutes without a point as the Hodags stretched the lead to 14. The Lumberjacks never got to closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
"We were not turning them over with live ball turnovers in the full court, so I thought if we backed our press up a little bit, and shrunk the court a little bit, then we had more success," Clark said. "We created a lot more turnovers in the second half or forced tough shots for rebounds. Then we started taking care of the ball a little better. We had a nice stretch to start the second half where we were efficient offensively."
Ava Lamers had 17 points for the Hodags. All five Hodag starters had at least eight points as Brynn Brzycki had nine and Megan Brown had eight. Lily Treder added nine points off the bench, all in the second half.
The lead changed hands six times in the first half as the Hodags had a difficult time slowing down East's Madisyn Krueger. She had 11 of her team-high 14 points in the opening half. The Lumberjacks led by as many as seven late in the first half and took a 32-28 lead to the break.
"Sluggish first half. I thought we were just a little bit out of sync," Clark said. "We had a lot of crazy, careless passes and tried to do a little too much. Just nothing was looking very good. East was playing very well."
The win moved Rhinelander to 13-6 ahead of a big GNC showdown tonight at conference-leading Mosinee. The undefeated Indians (19-0, 8-0 Great Northern) are currently ranked ninth in the
WisSports.net/Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division 2 poll and defeated the Hodags in Rhinelander 67-48 back on Dec. 17.
"That's the mental hurdle for this team, can we handle their pressure," Clark said, looking ahead to tonight's game. "We still struggle with pressure. That's a mental game for us. I'm hoping we can go down there and kind of hold our own a little bit and see if we can hang around."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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