Rice Lake, Sheplee sisters, roll past Lady Hodags

If the Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team was the windshield in its opener last Thursday, it was the bug on Monday night and flew smack into a well-oiled machine.

Sisters Eliana and Adeline Sheplee combined to score 46 points, leading three Warriors in double digits as Rice Lake raced past Rhinelander 81-34 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

    Rhinelander’s Aubryn Clark drives past Rice Lake’s Sydney Schradle during the first half of a non-conference girls’ basketball game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Monday, Nov. 20. Clark had a game-high 26 points in the contest for Rhinelander. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Aubryn Clark continued her hot start for Rhinelander. She scored 26 to match Eliana Sheplee for the game high, but the Hodags had only one other player score and went just 1-of-21 from the field in the second half as Rice Lake pulled away. 

“I’m not afraid to schedule good teams, especially early in the year,” Rhinelander coach Ryan Clark said. “This is a very well-balanced basketball team. They beat us up.”

Without leading rebounder Kelsey Winter (ankle), Rhinelander went in trying to contain the Sheplees, slow down Rice Lake’s transition game and limit a taller Warrior team’s second-chance opportunities. 

None of those three things happened. The Sheplee sisters, both Division I prospects, combined to score 37 points in the first half. Rhinelander turned the ball over 18 times over the first 18 minutes and Rice Lake held a 46-18 edge on the glass that included 19 offensive rebounds. The Warriors had three starters at 5-10 or taller and had a pair of six-footers come in off the bench.

Those three factors caused things to spiral away from the Hodags, who rallied to within 18-15 with 10:25 left in the half before the Warriors used a 22-4 run to pull away.

“The Sheplee girls are obviously very tough, we couldn’t handle them very well and then they just killed us on the glass,” coach Clark said. “The last 9-10 minutes of the first half if they threw the ball at the basket, if it didn’t go in, they were going to get a rebound almost every single time … That was an issue and then the turnovers. Use a bounce pass, pass fake, flash to the basketball.”

Rhinelander trailed 44-24 at the break, but at least shot 10 of 21 from the field in the first half. The scoring ran dry in the second. Rice Lake opened the half on a 17-4 run and the Hodags’ lone field goal of the second was an Aubryn Clark layup with 12:15 remaining.

While Rice Lake backed off its press in the second half, a number of starters remained in the game deep into the second half, with the Warriors finally going up by 40 with 4:06 remaining to triggered the running clock rule.

“Rice Lake was going to try to beat us by 40 to get the clock running,” coach Clark said. “No one is feeling sorry for us. You’ve just got to keep battling. I don’t think we got that figured out either. We don’t have time to feel story for a missed free throw, layup, turnover. The minutes on the court are crucial and just keep battling. 

“You learn a lot from these types of players and these types of teams. If we’re not boxing out or putting a body on somebody, a team like this exposes you quickly. If we’re not bounce passing, flashing, they expose you quickly.”

Aubryn Clark, who scored 28 in the opener, tried to keep pace with the Sheplees early in the game. She hit a 3 that put Rhinelander up 7-4 and had 12 of the Hodags’ first 17 points as they trailed by six with 8:31 left before the half.

Treder had the only other points for Rhinelander, scoring 8 on a 2-of-13 night from the field. Clark and Treder took a combined 33 of the Hodags’ 42 shots in the contest. Coach Clark said the rest of the team needed to find a way to be more assertive in the offense.

“My biggest shock is we only had two people score,” he said. “The goal isn’t to have Aubryn get 25 points. The goal is to win a basketball game. We’ve got kids that can score, more than two kids. We’ve got to do a better job of finding ways to win. 

“I thought our shooters were too timid to take a shot early on. You’ve got to have a little more fight and resiliency in you to play a team like this.”

Eliana Sheplee (26 points-11 rebounds) and Lucie Habas (18-11) both finished with double-doubles for Rice Lake, while Adeline Sheplee had 20 points. Rice Lake finished the night 55% from the field on 31 of 56 shooting. 

Rhinelander (1-1, 0-0 Great Northern) will jump back into action this morning against Athens in the Tom Kislow Memorial Tournament at D.C. Everest. The Hodags will then close out the tournament tomorrow night against the hosting Evergreens.

“It’s an opportunity to get back at it. We’ll clean some things up right away … We’ve got to come ready to go,” coach Clark said. “Athens runs a 1-3-1. We’ve struggled so far against a zone and I think we’re going to see it more. Then Everest is a little bit stronger. They’re going to grind you and fight you. Two different styles but it will be fun to get back at it again.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].