RHS Sports recap: Friday, Dec. 8

Boys’ basketball: Rhinelander 59, Northland Pines 47

The Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team overcame a sluggish offensive start and held off Northland Pines 59-47 Friday night at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

Both teams were cold from the field early as Rhinelander led 8-4 with roughly seven minutes to play in the first half and held a 19-14 lead at halftime.

Will Gretzinger led all scorers with 21 points for Rhinelander while Truman Lamers had 10. Jonathan Miller, Aiden Minx and Mylo Albrecht each scored 10 for Northland Pines. 

The Hodags (3-1, 2-0 Great Northern) travel to Wittenberg-Birnamwood on Monday.

Girls’ basketball: Rhinelander 52, Northland Pines 45

The Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team fended off a pesky Northland Pines team on the road Friday night, defeating the Eagles 52-45 in Eagle River.

The Hodags trailed 18-9 at one point in the first half, but ended the half on a 15-4 run to take a 24-22 lead to the break. Morgan Van Zile then broke a 29-all tie with a layup in the second half and the Hodags held on from there. 

Van Zile had a season-high 19 points for Rhinelander while Aubryn Clark led all scorers with 20. Vienna Klemett led Northland Pines with 15. 

The Hodags (5-2, 3-0 Great Northern) host Wausau East on Tuesday.

Boys’ hockey: Waupaca 7, Rhinelander 2

The Rhinelander High School boys’ hockey team gave up four power play goals on Friday night and fell to Waupaca 7-2 at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.

Trailing 3-1 with less than six minutes to play, Rhinelander’s Joey Belanger was called for a checking from behind major penalty and the Comets scored three times off the ensuing power play to put the game out of reach. 

Zach Edyvean scored on the power play for Rhinelander and Dalton Fritz added a short-handed goal. Rhinelander trailed 2-0 after a period and 3-0 after two periods. Waupaca outshot Rhinelander 32-18. Tyler Kimmerling stopped 25 pucks in defeat for the Hodags.

Rhinelander (2-4-0, 0-2-0-0 Great Northern) hosts Northland Pines this coming Thursday.

Full reports will be published in Tuesday’s River News.