January 10, 2022 at 10:16 a.m.
Lady Hodags fade in 2nd half vs. Lakeland
Lady Hodags fade in 2nd half vs. Lakeland
Lakeland stomped on the gas in the second half Friday night, outscoring the Hodags 42-10 on the way to a 66-39 victory in a battle for second place in the Great Northern Conference at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Division-I prospects Julianna and Kristina Ouimette scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, in the game. Lakeland took control with a 14-3 run to start the second half and never looked back.
"To have two great players like that really makes a difference," Rhinelander coach Ryan Clark said. "Kristina's such a nice, smooth player, a big, strong athlete. She did a nice job finishing inside against us. And Julianna, again beat us. Julianna's gotten so much better where she's just a playmaker. She's deadly to score but she's such a better player because she makes everyone around her so much better. Her vision's gotten better. She makes good passes and is just a difference maker on the court."
The Hodags, who went more than 14 minutes without a second-half basket in a 51-33 win at Medford, went cold again over the final 18 minutes against Lakeland. Rhinelander was just 4 of 26 from the field in the second half and shot 25% overall in the contest.
Lakeland, meanwhile, shot 47% overall and was 19 of 33 from the field in the second half, after going 11 of 31 in the first.
The combination of Lakeland's height and athleticism made life difficult on the Hodags. Rhinelander was just 5 of 16 on shots inside six feet and Lakeland used more 1-3-1 zone in the second half to force turnovers and create opportunities in transition.
"There's a reason we settled for so many outside shots," Clark said. "They really do a nice job of defending the lane with their length and they don't foul."
Kristina Ouimette, a freshmen who already has a couple of Big Ten offers, was held to two points in the first half. But she came alive in the second, scoring 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Her two free throws tied the game at 32 with 14:55 remaining and she then made a basket inside to give the T-Birds the lead for good at 34-32 with 13:37 to play.
"(Lakeland coach) Melissa (Ouimette) made a nice adjustment in the second half, putting Kristina inside," Clark said. "We did a terrible job of adjusting to that until it was too late."
The lead continued to balloon from there. Rhinelander trailed 43-36 with 8:25 to play, but was outscored 23-3 the rest of the way.
Rhinelander started hot from the field, hitting three 3-pointers in an opening 17-6 run over the first 6 1/2 minutes of the game. The Hodags hit five triples in the first half and led 29-24 at the break.
"Good first half. We obviously hit a lot of shots in the first half, which makes it a little bit different," Clark said.
Annika Johnson had 12 points in the first half for Rhinelander and finished as the only Hodag in double digits with 14 points. Rhinelander fell to 1-3 in games that it failed to have multiple players score in double figures.
Both Kristina Ouimette and fellow 6-foot freshman Saylor Timmerman recorded double-doubles for Lakeland. Ouimette had 12 rebounds to go along with her 16 points while Timmerman chipped in 12 points and 13 boards. The T-Birds were plus-18 on the glass in the contest.
"That's part of the problem with the zone, rebounding the defensive glass," Clark said. "On offense, by them packing it in and us shooting so many outside shots, we really didn't have anyone flashing to the glass. They got a lot of second opportunities and definitely killed us on the glass."
The loss dropped Rhinelander (8-5, 3-2) into third in the GNC, 1 1/2 games behind Mosinee (13-0, 4-0) and one game behind Lakeland (7-6, 4-1).
"We're probably out of the conference championship, maybe, but we'll keep fighting. I still think we can play with these teams if we keep getting better," Clark said.
The Hodags are on the road Tuesday night at Antigo, which improved to 2-3 in league play Friday night with a blowout win at Tomahawk.
"Antigo's physical, big and strong. They want to muddy the game up and make it look ugly. We're going to have to get the ball up and down a little bit better," Clark said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.