January 18, 2023 at 1:12 p.m.
Lady Hodags can't overcome Rapids' hot start
Lady Hodags can't overcome Rapids' hot start
Four Raiders scored in double figures and Wisconsin Rapids knocked down nine 3-pointers to defeat the Hodags 63-54 in a non-conference contest at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Rapids hit seven 3s in the first half alone as it pulled away to a 40-23 advantage at the break. The lead climbed to as many as 26 points in the second half before Rhinelander finished the contest on a 26-9 run.
"The difference was they made nine 3s and we made six," Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. "Literally everything else (was the same). We both had 20 turnovers. But the 3-point shooting they had in the first half was the difference. They got on a little run and just hit."
Rapids started 0 for 6 from the field and 0 for 4 from deep as Rhinelander opened the game on a 7-0 run, but it was all Raiders from there in the first half. Rapids answered with a 12-0 spurt, including a Jazz Redcloud 3 that gave the Raiders the lead for good. Rapids hit seven of its final 11 3-point attempts in the first half to stretch the advantage.
"They really shot it well," Clark said. I thought we did OK defensively for a while, but probably the biggest breakdown, defensively in man-to-man was I thought our help was really good, we were in the gap on the drives, but we were really slow in the recovery - not getting out there on-time on the shots."
Wisconsin Rapids (3-13, 1-5 Wis. Valley) opened the second half on a 14-5 run before things finally started turning the Hodags' direction late. Lily Treder hit four 3s in the second half to finish with 17 points. Rhinelander slowly chipped away, finally getting back to within single digits on a Kelsey Winter make with 1:15 remaining. That was the final basket of the contest.
"When (Lily) gets on fire she can really knock down some shots. She really got rolling there that second half," Clark said. "I thought we kept fighting and battling. With our ability to hit some 3s, we can erase a deficit at times. I like that we didn't quit, kept fighting. They did a nice job in the last 9-10 minutes to hang around."
A switch of defense also helped down the stretch as Rhinelander went away from man and back to its 1-3-1 zone. Rapids committed 20 turnovers in the contest, 16 of which came in the second half.
"We switched to our 1-3-1 just trying to mix things up, see if we could get them out of sync," Clark said. "We were able to get on a little bit of a run, cut it all the way back down to nine. But Rapids did a nice job in the last four minutes really spacing the floor and kind of playing keep-away."
Ava Lamers scored 26 for Rhinelander on 12 of 31 shooting to lead all scorers. She also collected 11 rebounds in her first double-double of the season. Overall, Rhinelander shot 37% (22 of 60) from the field. Lamers and Treder were the only two players who scored more than four points of Rhinelander on the night.
"Leah (Jamison) wasn't able to get enough shots off tonight, but we need one more scorer," Clark said. "Whether it's Kelsey Winter, Morgan (Van Zile) or Leah, I'd like to get three scorers in double figures and tonight we only had two."
Aliyah Jennings (13 points-10 rebounds) and Kristin Radtke (10-10) each recorded double-doubles for Rapids, Kate Schaeffer had 13 points and Redcloud chipped in 11 as Rapids shot 51% (25 of 49) on the night.
Rhinelander (5-10, 3-3 Great Northern) has dropped seven of its last eight contests.
"We can't fall into the habit of just losing or expecting not to win," Clark said. "We're 5-10 but I think we just have to mentally take care of ourselves and make sure we're going to come out here and keep battling. It's still a long season and we can get a lot better and we can get some wins in front of us here."
Rhinelander travels to Three Lakes for another non-conference contest this evening.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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