Lady Hodags drop regular season finale

While the Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team celebrated a record for shooting on Friday night, an inability to make shots ultimately cost the Hodags in the regular season finale.

A nearly 10-minute scoring drought to start the second half was the difference as the Hodags fell to Mosinee 53-47 in at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

Senior Lily Treder scored seven points in the contest, and set a program record for most 3-pointers in a season during the contest, but Rhinelander fell behind 41-25 as the shots didn’t fall early in the second half. The Hodags closed the regular season on a three-game losing streak.

“It was kind of an odd game,” Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. “We were always a little bit behind the whole game. That lull in the second half where it took us 10 minutes to score was the difference.”

Rhinelander made an 11-2 run over the final 3:03 of the contest, but ran out of time in the contest. Morgan Van Zile led the Hodags with 17 points while Aubryn Clark had 10. 

Though Rhinelander finished the night 44% from the field (19 of 43), the Hodags committed 18 turnovers and was outscored in the transition game 14-4.

“They guarded us how I would guard us. Medford, when we played them, they guarded us a lot differently the second time. Same thing with Mosinee,” coach Clark said. “Every time they scored, they’d but two kids on Aubryn and then, in the half court, they’d pressure up high and if she tried to drive, they had the help waiting for her.”

Taelyn Jirschele scored 23 to lead Mosinee and the Indians’ willingness to attack the basket loomed large in the contest. Mosinee got to the foul line 31 times compared to 10 for Rhinelander and the Indians had a 15-point advantage from the line.

“They really hurt us on free throws,” coach Clark said. “That was probably the difference in the game — live ball turnovers and then just not doing a very good job in help defense in the gap and physicality.”

Rhinelander started all five seniors in its final regular season home game and Treder etched her name in the program history book early in the first half. She hit an open 3 from the top of the key with 12:27 left in the first half for her 76th 3-pointer of the season, breaking the single-season mark of 75 set by Kenedy Van Zile in 2019-20.

“She had a chance to break it on senior night, which was kind of cool,” Clark said, noting Treder is also four makes away from Kenedy Van Zile’s career 3-point mark. “The crowd gave her a really big ovation. That was nice to see for too. I’m proud of her. She’s had a really good career. I’m happy for her. She’s done a nice job. It was a nice moment for her on senior night.”

    Rhinelander’s Morgan Van Zile drives past Mosinee’s Taelyn Jirschele for a layup during the second half of a GNC girls’ basketball game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Friday, Feb. 16. Van Zile scored a team-high 17 points in a 53-47 loss. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Morgan Van Zile finished two points off her season-high, set in a Dec. 8 win at Northland Pines. Tori Riopel added six points in her final regular season game.

“Tori played a good game, had three backdoor layups and Morgan was able to find a way to score,” coach Clark said. “Like I told the girls afterward, early in the year we could spot up and get open 3s. We’re not able to do that anymore. Teams are just running us off the 3-point line. They’re guarding us how I would guard our team and shadowing Aubryn. I’ll have to figure out a way to counter that the best I can.”

Mosinee led pretty much wire-to-wire. Rhinelander got within a point late in the first half, but Jirschele scored a layup off a steal in the final seconds to give Mosinee a 28-25 lead at the break.

Rhinelander (16-8, 9-3) finished a game ahead of Mosinee for second in the conference. The Hodags are the No. 3 seed in their half of the WIAA sectional and will host sixth-seeded Green Bay Southwest on Friday night in the regional semifinals. Clark said the Trojans (15-9, 11-7 Fox River Classic) will provide a strong test, despite coming in as the lower seed.

“I’d say they’re a little bigger, a little more physical and obviously play much better competition in their conference.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].