March 24, 2022 at 7:41 a.m.
Team review: RHS girls' basketball
Hodags come of age in improved season
Team review: RHS girls' basketball
Reinvigorated by a new defense and an aggressive style, the Hodags went from a sub-.500 season and its first one-and-done postseason trip in five years to a 16-win squad that went toe-to-toe with the Great Northern Conference's best most of the season.
Rhinelander went 16-10 overall, finished third in the GNC and had the conference's top two teams - Mosinee and Lakeland - both on the ropes during road tests in the month of January.
Ultimately, some inconsistencies on offense prevented the Hodags from advancing beyond the regional rounds of the WIAA tournament, but the year still proved to be a success for coach Ryan Clark's squad.
"That's the third-most wins we've had in our program," Clark said during the team's season-ending banquet. "We had a great season. I'm really proud of you guys. I know that last game was a tough way to end, but I was so proud of you, and I think your community was proud of you as well, and I think you were fun to watch."
Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.
The 1-3-1
The Hodags have primarily employed a man-to-man pressure defense during Clark's nine-year tenure. But, just as the season was starting, Clark had the notion of changing up the defense to better suit his personnel.
The team jumped into a 1-3-1 zone, which it used as its primary defense much of the year. The results were unquestionable.
Opponent's points per game and points per possession were down compared to the 2020-21 season while Rhinelander's steals per game were up. All were at clips that even better than the sectional-semifinalist 2019-20 squad (see table, above).
"You guys definitely exceeded my expectations in the first year of the 1-3-1," Clark said.
Seniors' ascension
The change in defense seemed to bring the best out of senior Audrey Schiek. She scored only 26 points in the entire 2021-22 season. She had already exceeded that total by the third game of this season and finished as the Hodags' co-leading scorer at 12.0 points per game.
"I've never had a player, and this will be my 17th year coaching, that has made this much of a jump in one year," Clark said.
Schiek was primarily at the top of the Hodags' 1-3-1 zone much of the season and said the aggression on the defensive end of the floor translated to the offensive end as well as she went from a player on the fringes of the varsity rotation to a first-team All-Great Northern Conference player.
"I'm really appreciative for the 1-3-1 this year because I think it really allowed me to come out and be the player that I am," she said. "It gave me the confidence I needed and I would have had the records or anything this year if it wasn't for the 1-3-1."
Schiek was not the only senior to step up. All four seniors in Rhinelander's starting lineup scored more points per game this year than the did last season, when the team was led by 22-point-per-game scorer Rebecca Lawrence. Schiek took the biggest jump, up 10.6 points per game, but Annika Johnson (plus-2.3 ppg), Megan Brown (plus-1.2 ppg) and Brynn Brzycki (plus-1.0 ppg) all saw their numbers improve. The same held true for the fifth member of Rhinelander's starting five, junior Ava Lamers (plus-5.8 ppg).
"I think that represented my varsity basketball team, and my seniors in general," Clark said. "We attacked the season hard and I just really appreciate how much you cared about the season and put into it."
Close only counts
Rhinelander had some close calls this year with rivals Mosinee and Lakeland, but were unable to get over the hump, and typically offensive dry spells were the culprit.
The Hodags had a 24-18 second half lead on then-unbeaten Mosinee on the road Feb. 4, but were outscored 19-1 down the stretch in a 37-25 loss. The Hodags led by five at halftime Jan. 4 against Lakeland, but lost 66-39 and forced overtime in the second meeting against the Thunderbirds only to fall 50-47. In the WIAA playoffs, Rhinelander could never fully crawl out from a 17-0 deficit to start against Lakeland, eventually losing 50-35.
The common thread in those games was poor shooting. The Hodags were held to under 30% from the field in those contests while making fewer than 26% of their 3-point attempts.
"We're not going to get many points inside with their height and their size, and they protect inside pretty well," Clark said following the playoff loss to Lakeland. "They're going to give you the open 3, and we took a ton of them again. I think they're good shots, but we've been a struggling shooting team. I'd say we've been inconsistent. At least we went out swinging. We didn't look hesitant. We looked like we believe we could make it. We kicked it around, got good open looks and were balanced."
The Hodags were 2-8 this season in games in which they shot worse than 30%, compared to 8-1 when they shot 40% or better. Ironically, Rhinelander's two worst shooting nights resulted in wins. The team shot 19.6% in a season-opening 30-26 win over Crandon and were 21.2% from the field in a 48-40 win Dec. 12 at Shawano.
Statbook
Clark highlighted a few statistical nuggets during the team's year-end banquet.
Schiek set a program record for total steals (125) and steals per game (4.8) this season. Those marks surpassed Kenedy Van Zile's records from the 2019-20 season.
"That one might stand awhile," Clark said, addressing Schiek at the banquet. "That one's hard to do, especially because you had 290 deflections. If you deflected the pass and the teammate recovered it, they get credit for the steal. The amount of steals that you yourself secured or created was a ton."
As a team, the Hodags had a program-best 474 steals this season and held Tomahawk to 11 points in a game Nov. 30 which, according to Clark's records, is the fewest allowed in program history.
Rhinelander also averaged a whopping 15.2 assists per game this season, which Clark said was a testament to the team's unselfishness.
"My varsity group shared the ball so well," he said. "This is the most assists that we've had since I've been here. To have that many kids up above 70 really shows how much they shared the basketball. They played good team basketball."
What's next
The Hodags will have to reload next year with a mostly new rotation. In addition to Schiek, Johnson, Brzycki and Brown, the team graduates Mabel Spencer from a rotation that mainly went only seven or eight deep much of the year.
Lamers, who tied Schiek as the team's leading scorer at 12.0 points per game, will return and will look to improve on a season where she shot 32.5% overall and only 20% from 3-point range. She's the only starter due back for the team.
"It starts with Ava Lamers and I thought Ava Lamers this year she kind of figured out how to slow down this year and not be in such a hurry," Clark said. "She really played for her seniors. She wanted to fight for her five upperclassmen. She's a great leader. She just steps in and it's a seamless transition with her leading our pack."
Sophomore Lily Treder averaged 4.7 points per game as a shooter off the bench and freshman Kelsey Winter earned some rotational minutes toward the end of the season, securing more than two rebounds a game in limited action.
From there, the Hodags will look to build upon a JV squad that saw success in Great Northern Conference play.
"Lily got a lot of great experience this year, came a long ways. She's going to be counted upon for sure, her and Ava," Clark said. "Then I'm excited for the JV kids - Leah Jamison, Morgan Van Zile, Tori (Riopel), Eva (Hetland). Kelsey Winter's going to be a really good player.
"The expectation is to be a good team, and we should be."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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