February 6, 2023 at 9:04 a.m.
Lady Hodags rally, then fade against Mosinee
Lady Hodags rally, then fade against Mosinee
Mosinee closed the game on a 13-0 run and defeated the Hodags 67-56 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Rhinelander (8-12, 5-4 Great Northern) trailed much of the way - and by as many as 19 points in the first half - but took a two-point lead on a Lily Treder 3-pointer with 3:35 remaining. That, however, ended up bing Rhinelander's final basket and Mosinee (11-9, 8-2 Great Northern) took the lead for good on a Britt Fitzgerald 3-point play with 2:36 remaining.
"It's just tough because you're down by so much, you show great grit to get back, take the lead and then kind of give it right back at the end," Hodag girls' basketball coach Ryan Clark said.
Ava Lamers led four Hodags in double figures, scoring 23 points. That put her over 500 points on the season and left her 25 points away from 1,000 for her career entering tonight's road contest at Medford.
The Hodags' lone senior had a personal 13-4 run that helped close a 37-23 halftime deficit down to 52-49 with 6:53 to play.
"She's come a long way, fantastic leader. I'm really happy for her that she's going to get this 1,000 points," Clark said. "I don't want her season to end yet, because she's had a great career, but she's really setting herself up as one of our best players in the last 10 years."
From there, Treder made a runner and Morgan Van Zile hit a pair of free throws to give Rhinelander at 53-52 lead - its first lead since the early stages of the opening half.
Fitzgerald answered with a layup on the other end before Treder made Rhinelander's last field goal of the night.
Turnovers plagued Rhinelander down the stretch. After Taelyn Jirschele made a couple of free throws Mosinee got a steal that lead to a Fitzgerald layup to thus Mosinee's lead to 63-56 with 1:17 remaining.
Fitzgerald finished the night with 21 points while Jirschele chipped in 18.
Rhinelander committed 28 turnovers on the night against Mosinee's pressure defense.
"And they're live ball turnovers," Clark replied. "So those are going to be baskets the other way. Some of that's just skill. Mosinee's quick. I think they do a real good job of turning and running at angles and cutting you off. They apply really good ball pressure. We're a bit average handling the ball against pressure and dribbled into trouble sometimes and then didn't go help our teammates out."
Turnovers also hindered Rhinelander in the first half as Mosinee scored 18 straight points to take a 20-4 lead six minutes into the contest. Mosinee pushed the lead to 32-13 on a pair of Jirschele free throws with 5:08 left until the break, the Hodags responded with a 10-2 run to get to within 11 before going in down 14 at halftime.
"I was really disappointed with how we came out," Clark said. "Coach (Jeremy) Jirschele's got them playing really hard, aggressive and scrappy. Mosinee has really aggressive athletes that compete hard. I think we're still growing in what that means to be aggressive and a competitive mindset as an athlete.
"Mosinee came out and just smacked us right in the face. They just took it right to us. We couldn't handle the press."
Rhinelander started to make a comeback, scoring 13 of the first 19 points in the second half to pull within 43-36 with 12:35 to play.
"In the second half we just started executing the game plan a little bit better and made that nice run. Lily Treder looked to score a bit more. We were able to post up Ava," Clark said.
The Hodags had balanced scoring behind Lamers. Treder finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in the contest, Van Zile had 11 and junior Tori Riopel, making her third straight start for the injured Kelsey Winter, scored a career-high 10 points.
"Tori's always done whatever her role is, but ever since Kelsey went down she has not missed a beat," Clark noted. "She's been very confident. She plays inside but she's only about 5-2, but she's giving us a really good lift."
Kaitlyn Selle added 13 points, all in the first half, for Mosinee. She hit three 3-pointers that helped in Indians stretch their early advantage.
The Hodags head to Raider Hall tonight looking for the season sweep of Medford. Rhinelander held off a last second-half push this past Monday night to defeat Medford 61-54 at the Miazga Gym.
"It's always tough to win at Medford, but that would be a good win for us."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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