February 1, 2023 at 1:43 p.m.
Lady Hodags score wins over Medford, Pines
Lady Hodags score wins over Medford, Pines
The Hodags scored Great Northern Conference wins on back-to-back nights, defeating Medford at home 61-54 on Monday before traveling to Eagle River on Tuesday and earning a 65-46 win over Northland Pines.
Rhinelander (8-11, 5-3 Great Northern) has now won three straight games following a stretch where it lost eight of nine.
"I give them credit. They stayed focused when we were struggling a little bit there trying to find wins," Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. "They kept battling, kept building and I thought these last three games were all winnable games. The East and the Medford games were really good wins for us and, tonight, we were just more dominant and took care of business."
Hodags 61, Medford 54
A dominant stretch midway through the first half proved to be just enough cushion for the Hodags to pick up a win at home Monday over the Raiders.
Rhinelander went on an extended 23-4 run between the 10:30 mark and the 3:58 mark of the first half to go from down six to up 13 and then held on as Medford made a push in the second half.
Rhinelander led 42-28 at the break, but saw that lead shrink to three on a pair of occasion in the second half before coming away with a 61-54 win.
"I thought we had just enough of a cushion there in the first half to survive the second half," Clark said.
Ava Lamers scored 20 of her game-high 27 points in the first half. She scored 10 in a row at one point, starting with a 3 that gave Rhinelander an 18-17 lead with 9:08 before the break.
Despite being a team with a penchant for shooting 3s, Rhinelander got the ball inside against a taller Raider squad with regularity on Monday night. The Hodags attempted only 11 3-pointers in the contest, shot 53% from the field (25 of 47) overall and outscored the Raiders 42-24 in the paint.
Medford found its best success in the post as well. Brooke Rudolph finished with 23 points and nine rebounds for the Raiders. Medford targeted her for three straight post touches that led to baskets to start the second half, spurring a 13-2 run that trimmed Rhinelander's advantage to 44-41 with 11:41 to play.
Rhinelander was able to get the lead back to 10 with 6:56 left before thee Raiders made another push. Medford scored nine of the next 11, including a Bryn Fronk 3 and a driving layup by Rylee Hraby to get within 56-53 with 2:10 remaining.
"They came out and had a little bit more of a purpose how they wanted to attack us," Clark said. "They used (Rudolph) inside. Defensively, they were just more physical than us. Off the ball they weren't going to let us just get an easy handoff. They were going to be physical and body us up a little bit."
Medford did not make a field goal the rest of the way and the Hodags were able to ice it thanks to a basket by Lamers, a pair of free throws by Leah Jamison and then one more free throw by Lamers with 6.1 seconds left.
Lily Treder added 11 points for Rhinelander while Fronk scored 11 for the Raiders.
Hodags 65, Pines 46
Lamers scored 31 more points for Rhinelander Tuesday night as the Hodags jumped out to a big first-half lead and cruised on the road. The senior now sits just 21 points shy of 500 for the season and 48 away from 1,000 for her career.
"Ava, it's like, 'she had 31' and you're almost desensitized. It's a lot of points, but she brought her normal self," Clark said.
Rhinelander took control with a 25-4 run that ended with back-to-back 3s by Jamison and Treder following steals to put the Hodags ahead 32-10 with 5:47 left in the first half. The lead stabilized from there with Rhinelander taking a 43-22 advantage to the break.
"I thought we started off really strong, had a good first half. We knocked down six 3s in the first half, turned them over, so we went up pretty big right away," Clark said.
The Hodags inched the lead to 25 at a couple of points in the second half, but Pines got the lead down to 15 with 1:43 to go before Morgan Van Zile and Lamers hit four free throws to finish off the contest.
"We were never in jeopardy of losing the game or even losing a big lead but we just didn't play well in the second half," Clark said. "I think a little bit of it was we just expended a lot of energy against Medford last night. I think that had a little bit to do with it and then some times, I think we're not as combative and aggressive as we need to be to put a team away."
Rhinelander finished the night 43% from the field on 23 of 54 shooting. Van Zile added 11 points for Rhinelander, Treder had 10 and Jamison chipped in nine.
"Morgan had some nice baskets getting to the rim and finishing, especially in the second half and then Leah had nine and Lily had 10," Clark said. "That was nice to see because Ava's going to still get her 30, which we need her to do, but if other kids are starting to contribute a little bit more - 9-12 points a game - that really makes us a tougher team to guard."
The Eagles shot 45% for the game, but were hindered by 21 turnovers. Emma Weber paced Pines with 14 points while Emily Rottier-Douangamala chipped in 11.
Tuesday's game was a make-up of a contest that was postponed last Friday night in Eagle River due to a power failure.
Next up, Rhinelander faces Mosinee tonight at the Miazga Gym in a rematch of a game that Mosinee won 59-50 back on Dec. 16.
"We played Mosinee tough the first time and it will be a good opportunity in front of our home crowd on Friday," Clark said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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