March 13, 2023 at 8:45 a.m.
Lamers takes home Lady Hodags' most improved, toughness awards
Lamers takes home Lady Hodags' most improved, toughness awards
Lamers, the lone senior on the team, earned the team's most improved award and the toughness award during a banquet last Tuesday in the RHS commons.
Lamers broke the team's single-game and single-season scoring records this year, along with a few other program records as she averaged 23.5 points per game and more than doubled her career scoring to finish fourth on the Hodags' all-time list with 1,084 points.
"I knew you were going to have a great year, but you exceeded my expectations with the type of year you had," Hodag coach Ryan Clark said at the banquet.
Those were two of the four awards handed out to the varsity team. Junior Morgan Van Zile won the defensive MVP award and sophomore Kelsey Winter garnered the Hodag Award.
While Lamers was Rhinelander's co-leading scorer in the 2021-22 season, Clark said the case for her winning most improved was clear. Not only did Lamers average 11.5 more points per game this season, she set season programs marks in total points (611) and made field goals (227). Her 118 made free throws tied her with Rebecca Lawrence for a single season mark. She was also tops on the team in total rebounds (172) and her 100 assists were the second most in school history - behind only Van Zile, who had 107 this season.
"This kid could destroy her former self," Clark said. "She has all the stats this year to prove it. She set numerous program records in our program but, even more than that, I think it just goes back to what did she do in April, May, June, July, August. Those are the unseen hours."
The toughness award is one that Clark and strength coach Tara Gremban have presented for numerous years. While Lamers was certainly tough, physically, Clark credited the mental toughness she showed carrying the load - and the defensive attention - as Rhinelander's top player.
"To be our best player, your struggle was at times you had to lead our team, take over and look to score. Other times you had to be a facilitator and find ways to play within the framework of the team," Clark said. "That sounds so easy, but that's extremely difficult. That's a fine line. You have to be extremely talented to have that opportunity, but then to face that and have the defensive attention that you had from every team we played. But, what made you more tough was that you never talked about stats with me and you never talked about anything other than wanting to win for your senior year and go as far as this team could go."
The Hodags, with only two players returning from last year's rotation, managed to go 11-16 overall and tie for third in the GNC with a 7-5 league mark. Rhinelander bowed out in the WIAA tournament to top-seeded New London in the regional semifinals, but did not go down without a fight - down three with 6 minutes to play before losing 62-48.
"We hung in there and I thought you made great growth. Especially at the end of the year, I thought you made a huge jump," Clark said regarding the season.
In addition to averaging 6.0 points and 4.1 assists per game for the Hodags, Van Zile was second on the team in deflections, and led the team in steals. During the second half of the season, once Rhinelander switched primarily to a man-to-man defense, Van Zile regularly drew the assignment against on of the opponent's top scorers.
"I think this girl can be a shut-down defender," Clark said in presenting Van Zile with the defensive player of the year award. "She just got into it and I was like, 'You're going to guard (Medford's) Bryn Fronk. You're going to guard so-and-so.' I watched her on tape and her close out was getting so good and her stance is pretty - long and low. I think she was our best a defender but I think next year she's going to be a great defender that really helps our basketball team."
Clark commended Winter for how she handled a knee injury and subsequent surgery that cut her season short. She was averaging 3.1 points and 6.9 rebounds a game prior to the injury, which occurred in a Jan. 26 game at Wausau East.
"Your season was over and you knew it was over," Clark said. "You set a very high standard to how anyone should respond to adversity in their life, in an injury, as an athlete that's put a lot of time in. You invested a lot and you never took one second to feel sorry for yourself."
Though the Hodags graduate Lamers, everyone else on the roster returns and Rhinelander is due to receive an influx of talent from the incoming freshman class. With that, Clark challenged his team to have a strong offseason.
"You have an opportunity to be a very good basketball team next year and, to be honest with you, I expect us to be a very good basketball team next year," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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