Lady Hodags unable to hold on vs. No. 1 Assumption

The Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team had the top-ranked team in Division 5 on the ropes for more than a half on Monday night but was unable to close out a win.

Wisconsin Rapids Assumption finished the game on a 20-6 run and defeated the Hodags 60-46 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

The Hodags (6-3, 4-0 Great Northern) had an 11-point first-half lead on an Assumption team that entered the game with an average margin of victory of 48.8 points. The Royals (9-0, 5-0 Marawood South) fought back in the second half as their pressure wore down the Hodags. 

“They threw a punch at us and we just fell down instead of fighting back,” Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. “That’s a better basketball team than us right now and they played a full game. We played about a half.”

Down 29-24 at halftime, Assumption set the tone early in the second, opening the half on an 8-0 run. Rhinelander answered with a 7-0 spurt to go back up by four and saw the game deadlocked at 40 after a Vivian Lamers layup with 10:35 to play, but Assumption’s pressure was too much to overcome. 

Rhinelander committed 19 turnovers and had only 15 field goal attempts in the second half. That was compared to only seven turnovers and 27 field goal attempts in the first half.

“We knew they were going to come out and press aggressively in the second half,” Clark said. “I don’t know how many turnovers we had, but we had a whole bunch in that second half. Part of it’s just lack of confidence with the ball in your hands. Part of it’s just not flashing to the ball.”

The tide also seemed to turn against Rhinelander after senior guard Morgan Van Zile picked up her fourth foul with 13:37 remaining. Assumption went on a 14-4 run over the next 4 1/2 minutes and took the lead for good on an Anna Schooley bucket with 10:20 to play.

The Hodags tried to play tight man-to-man in the half court to slow down an Assumption team that came in averting 75.8 points per contest. Clark said Van Zile was the recipient of some tough-luck touch fouls on the perimeter that hindered her ability to stay on the court. 

“Morgan, she caught some bad breaks,” he said. “I thought she played really smart. Usually if a kid’s in foul trouble, it’s because she’s being kind of reckless. Morgan wasn’t reckless at all. I thought she was playing smart, moving her feet and just playing disciplined, so I kept her on certain players. I probably should have moved her to a lesser opponent and protected her a little bit.”

Rhinelander led the entire first half, making four early 3s to build a 15-4 lead. The Hodags were still up 27-16 with 4:30 left in the half, but Assumption closed on a 8-2 run to cut the lead to five at the break.

Freshman Aubryn Clark had 12 points for Rhinelander in the first half and still finished the night as Rhinelander’s top score despite not scoring in the second half. She was limited to three shot attempts and committed eight  turnovers against Assumption’s press before being pulled from the game with roughly six minutes to play and the Hodags down only seven.

That move appeared to be a coaching decision by Ryan Clark, Aubryn’s father. After the game, in response to a question about the change, he confirmed he was attempting to send a message.

“To me, you’ve got to stay in the mental battle and just compete,” he explained. “When you’re struggling, look at your teammate. If you’re struggling and upset with your performance or have lost your confidence a little bit, you can’t stay in your head. Look around to your teammates. Look at Vivian Lamers. Vivian Lamers fights every possession. She’s just relentless out there. I thought she played a great defensive game. If I’m her teammate, I don’t care how many mistakes I made or if I’m missing shots or whatever, I’m just going to battle for her. I think we need to figure that out real soon.”

Sarah Shaw scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in the second half to lead Assumption while Schooley chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds. Assumption hit only one 3-pointer in the game, but still managed to shoot over 54% from the field (25 of 46). The majority of its second half makes either came from fast-break layups or second-chance points. 

“I thought the first half we played really good defense. We were really flying around, getting to the weak side. The second half, there were several possessions where we didn’t even get to the weak side. It was just a ball screen and roll,” coach Clark said.

Leah Jamison had nine points and Lily Treder had eight as the Hodags finished the night just under 43% (18 of 42) from the field.

While disappointed with the outcome, coach Clark said the game will help prepare his team for stronger opponents during the second half of the season. 

“We’re going to face Lakeland, Mosinee, Stevens Point who are going to apply pressure and have size to go with it. You’ve got to just toughen up. We let them do whatever they want in the second half and they took it to us,” he said. “This was good for us. This game will make us better. In that respect, I’m happy that we had this game. Credit to Assumption. They’re going to have a chance to win a gold ball at state. We’ve just got to get better.”

Rhinelander was set to take on Merrill Thursday in a game that concluded after press time for this edition. The Hodags will be back in action this coming Thursday night at Ashland. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].