Lady Hodags pull away to down Antigo, snap skid

ANTIGO — A week of soul searching following back-to-back Great Northern Conference losses seemed to do the Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team some good. 

The Hodags bounced back Friday night and regained a bit of their stride as they steadily pulled away from Antigo en route to a 68-29 win at Sheldon Fieldhouse.

The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for Rhinelander (3-3, 1-2 Great Northern), albeit against the two best teams in the GNC to date — Mosinee and Medford. Coach Ryan Clark said a full week of practice to dissect and improve upon what went wrong in those two losses was beneficial for his squad.

“Last week was a tough week for all involved. But I think it was a good learning (experience),” he said. “I thought we had a great week of practice, which was most important. We just told everyone. There’s a solution to every problem. We’ll find it together collectively — coaches and players together. And the girls had a really good mindset all week. Very resilient, and now they’re excited for the challenge upcoming.”

There was never really a knockout blow delivered by the Hodags, just a slow and steady overwhelming of a less-experienced Antigo squad. Rhinelander led wire-to-wire in the contest and held a 28-14 advantage at halftime. The Red Robins (1-4, 1-2 Great Northern) trailed 42-25 with 10 minutes remaining before the Hodags finally pulled away, outscoring Antigo 26-4 the rest of the way. 

Aubryn Clark scored 23 points to lead three Hodags in double figures. Teagan Clark had 15, Lexi Beran added 11 points and 10 rebounds while Vivian Lamers chipped in nine points, six rebounds and eight assists. 

The Hodags appeared better equipped to handle exotic zones employed by teams of late in an effort to slow down the Clark sisters, especially in the second half of the contest. 

“I thought the nice thing today is (against) that triangle and two, we executed our ‘money’ action, is what we call it, and when we executed it correctly, we got some baskets inside,” coach Clark said. “Lexi posting up. I thought that was a nice asset there, and then the ball moved better. I didn’t feel like it was Aubryn and Teagan trying to go across, you know, three or four kids and find an open kid. We just were working together. That was effective. I mean, it’s still work in progress, but I thought we shared the ball pretty well.”

Though Rhinelander led by 14 at half and turned the Robins over 23 times, it still felt like a grind over the first 18 minutes. The Hodags were just 10 of 31 from the field in the first half and had three players — Aubryn Clark, Beran and Gracie Anderson — with three fouls each. 

“When we go to Antigo, it’s always a grind. The first half, I think we were just too aggressive. We were either causing a deadball turnover, or we were fouling so much. There’s a lot of free throws we gave up in that first half. It’s just a grind. It was like 28-14. There is no flow,” coach Clark said. “We talked a lot of halftime, this is too many times that we’ve gotten in foul trouble. We had multiple people with two or three fouls in the first half. Second half, I thought we did a better job of just being smart, rotating over correctly and then not reaching for steals. Those steals have just come from getting a response defensively and being in the right position.”

    Rhinelander’s Lexi Beran attempts a free throw during the first half of a GNC girls’ basketball game in Antigo Friday, Dec. 12. Beran had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the Hodags’ 68-29 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander finished the night 40% (25 of 62) from the field, despite shooting just 23% (6 of 26) from 3-point range. Beran nearly had a double-double in the second half alone with 10 points and eight rebounds, and the offense was balanced. The Clark sisters combined for 50% of the shot attempts while the Hodags 16 assists. That was the lowest shot proportion for the Clarks, and the team’s most assists, since their last win — an 81-40 victory over Wausau West in Medford Nov. 29.

“I thought Lexi was a force inside. I thought she was aggressive. I thought we found her. When she was open. I thought she played to her strengths,” coach Clark said. “We saw a little bit of man to start the game. then they went to that zone and I thought we adjusted pretty well. And I thought Vivian played really smart. I thought she was taking a shot when it was there, but I thought she was attacking, and then she was finding the second rotation and find an open teammate, just making the easier play.”

Ava West and Baily Heinzen scored eight points each to lead Antigo. The Robins were held to just 23% (8 of 35) from the field and committed 38 turnovers in the game. 

The Hodags will face a difficult test tonight on the road at Stevens Point in non-conference play. The Panthers, ranked No. 7 in Division 1 in the latest Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports Girls Basketball Media Poll, feature two of the state’s top players in their classes in junior point guard Jada Seubert and sophomore wing Leah Awe.

“I told the girls, we got to believe we can win, which I know we believe we can. But it’s going to be a big test. This is gonna make us better. I’m excited for it,” coach Clark said. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].