December 6, 2024 at 6:06 a.m.
Comeback for the ages
By Jeremy Mayo
river news sports editor
With the ball in her hands and the Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team’s Great Northern Conference opener on the line, Aubryn Clark never doubted what was going to happen.
“We were still on the bench during the timeout and it’s like I’m going to make it. I just knew in my head I was going to make it,” she said.
Considering the heater Clark was on Tuesday evening, it all made perfect sense.
Clark knocked down that shot, a top-of-the-key 3 with 6 seconds remaining, to force overtime and finished with a school-record 43 points as the Hodags rallied from down as many as 21 to defeat the Medford Raiders 63-58 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Clark, by herself, outscored Medford 29-14 over the final 12 1/2 minutes of regulation — putting in all but one of Rhinelander’s buckets in that span. She put the Hodags ahead for the first time all night on a layup off a steal with 1:51 remaining in the extra session and then knocked down her final four free throws of the night. The last, with 5.2 seconds left in overtime, gave her the single-game RHS scoring record — surpassing the mark of 42 points set by Ava Lamers in an overtime loss at Rice Lake in November 2022.
“I thought she was fearless. She was outstanding. Made her free throws, hit the big 3 to put it in overtime,” coach Ryan Clark, Aubryn’s father ,said. “Aubryn’s always been clutch, though. She kind of lives for those moments. I think she always rises to those big occasions.”
For the longest time, it didn’t look like the Lady Hodags stood a chance in the conference opener. Rhinelander made just one field goal over a 12-minute stretch late in the first half as Medford used a 26-5 run to go up 32-11 with less than a minute to go before the break. Clark broke that drought with a right-wing 3 and Vivian Lamers added a layup in transition as the Hodags trailed 32-16 at halftime.
Little had changed early in the second, as the Raiders were up 39-22 with 12 1/2 minutes to go. That’s when Aubryn Clark caught lightning in a bottle.
She drove to the basket on three straight possessions, cutting the lead to 39-28. Then she stepped outside after Toryn Rau hit a triple to push the lead back to 16. Clark hit back-to-back 3s from the top of the key and then made all three free throws after getting fouled on a shot on the right wing. All of a sudden, the Hodags were down five, 42-37, with 9:32 remaining.
“We came out in the second half way stronger,” she said. “Me hitting some shots of course kinds of bumped us up in our toughness, but I think we were just executing on defense and taking in the atmosphere of the crowd as well. That really helped us.”
“We get it to five with like 9 (minutes) to go and I told the girls like, ‘Get yourself a deep breath. This is a ball game now,’” coach Clark said. “We don’t have to be crazy or reckless, we just got to settle in and start defending a little bit better.”
The Hodags weren’t able to get over the hump, however. A 3 by Rylee Hraby followed by a steal and layup by Rau put Medford up 53-46 with 43 seconds left in regulation, but the Hodags had one more push.
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Clark was fouled at half court and made both ends of a 1-and-1 to cut the lead to five with 36.6 seconds left. Medford fumbled the ensuing inbounds play away and Lexi Beran scored on an offensive rebound off a missed 3 by Clark with 23.4 seconds to play.
Medford struggled to put the game away, going just 4 of 11 from the foul line in the second half. Two misses by Kayla Baumgartner and a rebound by Beran gave the Hodags a chance for the game-tying shot.
“I just felt good, shot it with confidence,” Clark said. “I didn’t even care if it went in or not. When it went in, I could just hear the crowd and I’m like, ‘OK next play,’ It felt amazing, especially with my teammates all happy.”
Baumgartner scored the first bucket of overtime for the Raiders, but Lamers answered with a third-chance basket to tie it for Rhinelander before Clark’s steal and finish gave the Hodags the lead for good with 1:51 to play. Medford drew within one on a transition layup by Baumgartner with 1:03 left and then got a defensive stop, but Rau missed an open layup off a press break for the Raiders and JaLyn LaChapelle garnered the rebound for Rhinelander with 37 seconds left.
Medford eventually fouled Clark with 16.7 seconds left. After a timeout, she made both free throws, extending the lead to three.
“The free throws were huge,” she said. “My dad was giving me encouragement on the bench. He was like, ‘You’ve worked for this. You’ve got this.’ I’m like, ‘OK, breathe,’ and I shot them with confidence.”
Baumgartner missed a potential tying 3 off the top of the backboard with 6.2 seconds left and the Raiders fouled Clark on the ensuing inbound play, giving her two cracks from the foul line for the school record. She now has two of the top three single-game performances in RHS history. She scored 41 last December in a non-conference road win at Ashland.
“Last year I had 41 and I never did think I was going to get 43 tonight, I was hoping more like 23, but I think I was defensive rebounding, offensive rebounding,” she said. “I was getting to the rim, hitting my shots and I was getting after it on defense with the steals. Overall, I had a great game and it was just a great team win.”
“I told the ladies, wow, one of my best, that’s one of our best program wins since I’ve been here, comeback wins,” coach Clark said. “I mean, I can’t remember many, but that was unbelievable.”
Rhinelander was able to come back despite second-leading scorer Kelsey Winter getting shut out of the score book and fouling out early in the second half. Barkus finished with seven points and Lamers chipped in six in the win for the Hodags, who shot 33% from the field (21 of 63).
Klingbeil added 11 rebounds to secure a double-double for the Raiders. Baumgartner barely missed a double-double with 13 points and nine boards. Rau added nine points and Rylee Hraby had seven as the Raiders shot 36% from the floor (20 of 55).
Rhinelander continues a five-game homestand tonight against Antigo, kicking off a boys-girls doubleheader against the Red Robins at the Miazga Gym at 6 o’clock. The Robins lost 58-34 to Tomahawk on Tuesday, giving the Hatchets their first win in GNC play since 2019.
Freelance reporter Bob Mainhardt contributed to this report. Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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