All fouled up: Foul trouble, Trojans knock Lady Hodags out of playoffs

Despite their lower seed, the Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team knew that Green Bay Southwest would be a tough matchup to open the WIAA tournament. What the Hodags didn’t count on was a situation where it had to try to compete with the Trojans without their leading scorer for long stretches of the game. 

That nightmare scenario is exactly what unfolded Friday night as Aubryn Clark got in deep foul trouble early, Green Bay Southwest built a big lead and then coasted to a 61-35 upset in the WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

Clark picked up her second and third fouls just 19 seconds apart early in the first half. She picked up a fourth later in the half and the Trojans outscored the Hodags 27-12 over the final 13 1/2 minutes of the first to lead by 21 at the break. 

“It was a tough situation there in the first half, but they battled really hard. I thought we got back into it,” Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. “To have Aubryn out, I thought we battled really hard as much as we could. I would like to see how we could do with her in the whole game.”

The frustrating aspect — at least from the Hodags’ point of view — was that three of the four fouls that went against Rhinelander’s star freshman were 50/50 propositions, at best. She was called for her second at the 13:51 mark of the first as she and Southwest’s Addison Pytleski dove on the floor for a loose ball, and then her third just 19 seconds later as the two had another coming together at the ball while going for a rebound. 

Clark’s fourth came with 4:46 left in the first, as she and Kelsey Winter tried to double team Southwest’s Delaney King in the post. Replay shows Winter grabbing King from behind, but the referees called Clark for a reach in instead. 

Clark played only 8 minutes, 18 seconds in the first half as a result. Coach Clark, who has historically let his players play through foul trouble longer than the norm, said the calls against his daughter were difficult to take, especially in a playoff scenario.

“To me, playoffs are about kids battling and playing hard. Those 50/50 balls where two kids are diving for the ball, one got there a split second before the other one,” he said. “There’s no disadvantage if the ball gets knocked down the court. I just think you reward hustle and let kids battle.”

While Aubryn Clark sat, Southwest pulled away. Emma Szarowicz scored 12 of her game-high 16 points in the first half as the Trojans led 36-15 at the break. Clark returned to the game in the second half, scoring 11 of her team-high 15 points over the final 18 minutes without picking a game-disqualifying fifth foul. The Hodags got to within 45-30 on a Leah Jamison 3 with 9:55 remaining, but Southwest scored 10 of the next 13 points to put the game out of reach.

“I thought they did a really good job to start the second half. The first eight minutes or so they did as well as they could, cut it to 15 but, unfortunately, we had a pretty good hole to dig out of it,” coach Clark said. “Credit to Southwest, they were smart enough were they were going to space the floor, not take crazy shots and use the time to their advantage.”

Szarowicz was one of four players in double figures for the Trojans. Pytleski added 13 points and 12 rebounds, Chloey Bynum hit three triples in a 12-point effort and Alex Siudzinski added 10 points. Southwest, which knocked of Pulaski Saturday night later claim the regional title, finished the game 44.2% from the field (19 of 43) and dominated the glass, outrebounding the Hodags by a 40-20 margin. 

“They can knock down the 3, they’re pretty physical and they get inside. We were going to take one away, give up the drive or the 3. Credit to (Szarowicz and Bynum), they hit some nice big 3s there,” coach Clark said. “But I thought they really hurt us big time on the glass in the first half. They got a lot of offensive rebounds. We were kind of standing flat-footed and they crashed the boards hard.”

Aubryn Clark’s final make, a runner with 2:45 remaining, gave her 501 points for her freshman season. Winter, who had made one 3-pointer all season, knocked down two on Friday night and was Rhinelander’s second-leading scorer with eight points. 

The Trojans held Hodag sharpshooters Lily Treder and Jamison to 6 and 3 points respectively as the two went a combined 1 of 8 from distance. 

“I obviously wanted to win the game but, waking up this morning, I wanted to see this team fight and compete,” coach Clark said. “I thought they did that, especially with the circumstances they were under. Just disappointing. The playoffs are so much and they’re just brutally honest at the same time. It’s win or go home. It’s a tough pill to swallow but great season.”

    Rhinelander’s Leah Jamison receives a hug from teammate Kelsey Winter after coming out late in the second half of a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal playoff game against Green Bay Southwest at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. Jamison was one of five seniors who played her final game for the Hodags on Friday night. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

It also marked an emotional ending for the Hodags’ five seniors — Treder, Jamison, Morgan Van Zile, Tori Riopel and Eva Hetland. With the outcome settled, all five were able to play together on the floor late in the contest before being subbed out to a standing ovation with less than minute to play. 

“A lot of tears and long faces, of course, but that’s because it meant a lot to them. I’m really proud of them,” coach Clark said. “For the seniors, obviously Leah, Lily and Morgan started and had a very good season. For Tori and Eva, so many kids in today’s world if they’re not in the top five they don’t go out for a sport. For kids that will take a role as maybe the sixth, seventh, eighth player and practice everyday like Tori and Eva, lot of credit to those kids. It would be a lot easier to say I’m not going to play. To sacrifice all season just for the betterment of the team and obviously they had some good moments as well. I’m proud of all five of them.”

The Hodags finished the season 16-9 overall, ending the year on a four-game losing streak. Rhinelander finished second in the Great Northern Conference but will have to reload on a conference full of underclassman talent if it wants to duplicate that success next year.

“I think the GNC has a lot of young, talented players. Just look at the all-conference team. We’ve got our work cut out for us. But it was a great season in that we had JV and varsity do very well this year,” coach Clark said. “A lot of freshmen got a lot of minutes on JV. Everyone kind of knows where they’re at. It’s going to come down to the offseason. To me, we want to keep building. I think we had a really good year and I don’t think we need to take a step back. We’ve got some young kids coming up and we’ll just fight and compete.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].