February 9, 2023 at 9:32 a.m.
Milestone moment
Ava Lamers reaches 1,000 points as Lady Hodags down Medford 63-53
Milestone moment
The senior reached 1,000 points for her career, scoring 30 Tuesday night to help the Hodag girls' basketball team past Medford 63-52 at Raider Hall.
Lamers needed 25 points to reach the milestone and she got there on a transition layup that put Rhinelander ahead 53-40 with 4:23 remaining.
"I think Ava's worked for everything she's accomplished," Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. "She's put in a lot of time in basketball, a lot of time just working out and getting better as an athlete, getting stronger. She's a three-sport athlete, puts in all the time, goes to all the open gyms for all sports but then, away from the camera, away from the team she's still also putting in the time weightlifting, the skill work in the driveway. For her to get 1,000 points and have a career like this - especially as the only senior on the team - I think she's really earned it."
Lamers became the third Hodag player in the last four seasons to reach the 1,000-point career mark, joining Kenedy Van Zile and Rebecca Lawrence. Van Zile recorded her 1,000th point almost exactly four years to the day as Lamers -Feb. 8, 2019 - and also reached the milestone in Medford.
"It's awesome to be up there with her and Rebecca, two players that I looked up to within the last couple of years and got to play with," Lamers said. "It was fun that it was almost to the exact day at the same place Kenedy got to do it."
Lamers has done the majority of her scoring this year, as she is averaging more than 25 points per game for the Hodags.
Though she started the season with less than 500 career points, Lamers said she knew the goal was attainable.
"I knew it would be a big challenge, but I put in the work, and I knew it was something I could reach," she said. "I didn't want to focus on it too much because I didn't want to miss what was going on around me in every game. Once the season started going and the goal became more and more reachable, it got exciting."
Lamers scored 23 points in the second half alone, including 10 during a 17-5 run that gave the Hodags a 44-35 lead with 7:27 remaining. She got to the cusp of 1,000 on a basket with 5:33 left. Then, following a Medford missed shot, Lily Treder grabbed a rebound and got it ahead to Morgan Van Zile - Kenedy's younger sister - who chucked it forward to Lamers on a 2-on-1 fast break. Lamers did the rest.
Clark called a timeout as Lamers reached the milestone, and her accomplishment was briefly acknowledged by the Medford PA announcer.
Lamers said she knew she was close when she went in for the milestone layup.
"So I knew I was close, but with 4 minutes left in the game and it still being pretty close, we were all focused on winning," she said. "It was fun to celebrate, but I'm really glad we pulled out the win together."
Medford never got any closer than nine down the stretch as the Hodags went 17 of 28 from the foul line against a Medford team that had three starters and one reserve foul out of the contest.
Medford led much of the first half. Rhinelander tied the game on five occasions before a Lamers bucket finally gave Rhinelander its first lead. The Hodags would carry the advantage to halftime, up 23-21.
Brooke Rudolph scored 26 for Medford, including a bucket that put the Raiders back ahead 26-25 with 13:10 left in the second. She then made it 30-27 on a reverse layup before Rhinelander sophomore reserve Dawsyn Barkus knocked down a corner 3 to tie the game with 10:45 left.
From there, Lamers put Rhinelander back in front with a free throw and then stole the ensuing inbound pass and made a layup, helping to trigger Rhinelander's decisive 17-5 run.
Clark said, despite a thin bench, the Hodags were able to turn up the pressure in the second half.
"The second half we went to our 1-2-2 and our 2-1-2 and got a spurt there maybe four minutes in where we got a nice little break where we turned them over," he said. "Ava was able to get some baskets in transition and then Leah (Jamison) and Morgan also off steals."
Treder added 10 points while Morgan Van Zile and Tori Riopel scored eight each for a Hodag team that shot 46% (21 of 46) from the field.
Fronk added 15 for Medford as the Raiders shot 34% (22 of 65) on the night and were only 2 of 29 from beyond the arc. She fouled out with 3:56 remaining, joining Rudolph, Aliyah Pilgrim and Toryn Rau, who all fouled out in the second half for the Raiders.
The win moved Rhinelander to 9-12 on the season and clinched a top-four finish in the GNC. Rhinelander faces undefeated conference leader Lakeland tonight in Minocqua.
"They're just destroying teams right now. We'll go out there and do the best we can and battle," Clark said. "We've got to take and learn from that game. I don't know if we're going to be able to beat them or not. We're going to give it our best shot, but they're going to pressure you, so that's a good opportunity at handling pressure. If we play a team like Merrill or Mosinee in the playoffs, maybe we can learn from this experience on Friday night."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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