Lady Hodags take care of Hatchets on senior night

A last-second basket was of little consequence in the final outcome Friday night as the Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team defeated Tomahawk 52-32 at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. But to the Lady Hodags, and the player who scored it, it meant the world. 

Senior Makenna Sternitzky, who has battled injury the better part of the last two seasons, got the final bucket to the delight of her teammates and the home crowd. The basket came in just her fourth game of the season, and first since Dec. 13.

“Makenna’s basket at the buzzer was pretty sweet,” Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. “She’s had two ACL injuries, out for a year, and she gets to make a buzzer beater at home on senior night. That’s pretty awesome.”

The Hodags wanted to get Sternitzky a bucket on a night in which it honored the five seniors on its squad. Getting it ended up taking a bit of effort. 

Rhinelander tried to sneak her deep in transition while Tomahawk shot free throws with 8.5 seconds left. That almost worked, but the Hatchets’ Freya Alberg got back and nearly stole the ball away before Sternitzky wrestled for control and drew a held ball. The Hodags then called timeout to draw a play to get her open on the ensuing inbound, but Alberg was there again. Sternitzky had to fight for separation on the right block and banked one in off the window as the horn sounded. 

“She wanted that basketball so badly when Freya stole it and tied it up,” coach Clark said. “Then the cool thing with the team is the girls really wanted to get this shot for Makenna, so, pretty cool how it all worked out.”

Tomahawk hasn’t beaten Rhinelander since 2002, but the Hodags were wary that the Hatchets could make it a game with Aubryn Clark missing her seventh straight game with a back injury that will likely force her to sit out until at least the start of the postseason. 

Rhinelander relied on defense as it led wire-to-wire in the contest. The Hodags held the Hatchets to only three field goals in the first half. Back-to-back transition layups off steals by sophomore Vivian Lamers had the Hodags up 14-3 with 9:10 left in the first half and Rhinelander cruised to a 23-9 lead at the break.

The Hodags’ advantage never shrunk below 12 points in the second half as they guaranteed themselves of at least a .500 record on the season and a winning record in GNC play (12-7, 7-3 Great Northern). The win also assured that Rhinelander can finish no worse than tied for third in the conference. 

“I thought we came out really aggressive, defensively, really hard, and then we kind of carried that the whole game,” coach Clark said. “The second half we did a little bit better job of rotating over them when we got the traps. So yeah, defensively, they carried over from Tuesday night. That was one of our better defensive performances tonight.” 

    Rhinelander’s Dawsyn Barkus drives to the basket against Tomahawk’s Anita Ziert during the second half of a GNC girls’ basketball game against Tomahawk at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Friday, Feb. 7. Barkus scored a career-high 16 points in Rhinelander’s 52-32 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Another senior, Dawsyn Barkus, led all scorers with a career-high 16 points Friday night. Thirteen of those points came in the second half as the Hodags stretched the lead to as many as 23 points late in the going. 

“I think since the first of January, Dawsyn’s made a big jump,” coach Clark said. “(At the) beginning of the season, she was kind of not real confident more than just shooting the 3, and now she’s way more involved. She’s cutting, she’s passing, she’s playing good defense, and her shot’s actually getting better just because she’s doing more things and not relying just on the shots.”

Lamers added 13 points for Rhinelander while another senior, Kelsey Winter had eight. 

Alberg paced Tomahawk (10-9, 4-5 Great Northern) with 13 points while Claire Albert had 12.  

“I thought that’s probably the best we’ve done our man defense all year,” coach Clark said. “Even when they were getting it up the court., I thought Ella (Miljevich) did a really good job on Claire Albert, No. 11, just working her up and down the court.”

Rhinelander faces a tough stretch run, beginning tonight at home against Shawano, which features 6-foot junior Leah Nordin. That game tips at 5:30 p.m., kicking off a girls-boys doubleheader against the Hawks at the Jim.

“The name of the game would be pressure, length and pressure,” coach Clark said. “Nordin, on the top of their 1-3-1, is a really good athlete, committed to Wisconsin. She’ll be really difficult to play against and they have other players too. They’re a nice basketball team.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].