Lady Hodags look to embrace underdog role in WIAA tournament

Even with a better overall record, the Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team knows it will likely have its hands full this evening when it travels to Menomonie to begin the WIAA playoffs.

The fifth-seeded Hodags will meet the fourth-seeded Mustangs in a Division 2 regional semifinal game tonight, and they will do it without standout sophomore guard Aubryn Clark. While Clark has not played since Jan. 10 due to a back injury, there had been a glimmer of hope she could return in time for the postseason. That hope was dashed late last week when she was not medically cleared to return to action. 

Despite missing the last 11 games Aubryn Clark still leads the Hodags in total points (258) and points per game (21.5).

“She’s really disappointed that this is how her season ended, playing only a handful of games, but she’s not a stats kid,” said Hodag coach Ryan Clark, Aubryn’s father. “She just wants to compete and she loves to compete. She loves to play.”

Rhinelander (13-11, 7-5 Great Northern) has gone just 4-7 in Aubryn Clark’s absence. Those three wins came against the bottom three teams in the GNC — Tomahawk, Northland Pines and Antigo — and winless Wausau East.  

Meanwhile the Hodags have had some tough losses to both GNC and non-conference competition. That included two 40-plus point losses to Mosinee, a 55-point loss to Lakeland a 29-point loss to Shawano and a 30-point loss to Wisconsin Rapids Assumption. 

“I think one thing that’s probably the biggest thing as a coach when we have Aubryn, I think everyone believes we can beat anybody we play,” coach Clark said. “Without her, it’s been a little bit of a struggle. We know we can beat certain teams without her, but the upper echelon teams, we haven’t found a way to compete yet. Part of that just you know, do we believe enough we can win without her?”

That will be the test tonight against a Menomonie squad that has been through the gauntlet during the regular season. Though the Mustangs are an even .500 (12-12, 7-7 Big Rivers), their schedule includes a signature win over the top seed in the regional, Rice Lake, 54-53 in Rice Lake back on Dec. 20. 

Menomonie went through a stretch where it dropped seven of eight games late in the season, however the Mustangs come into the tournament off back-to-back wins, including 73-34 blowout of Chippewa Falls last Friday. 

“They’re battle tested. They have a tougher conference schedule than we have so this will be a really big challenge for us,” coach Clark said. “Very solid team. Probably they don’t have a superstar, but I think they’re seven deep that I would say are physically pretty strong kids … solid, smart basketball players.” 

Menomonie’s numbers appear middle of the road, but that’s partly thanks to the tough competition it faces in the Big Rivers. The Mustangs are scoring 55.5 points per game and allowing 56.5. They average 25.0 rebounds per game but are minus-4.8 on the glass compared to the opposition. One thing that could help the Hodags is that Menomonie is less inclined to press as some of the high-end teams it has seen recently, averaging only 6.6 steals per contest. 

“I would say they’re just more strong, solid looking kids that are a little more half court. They can get up and down a little bit. They kind of settle and play smart defense (and) rebound,” coach Clark said. “I think we match up with them pretty well. I think they’re not really an outside-shooting team. I think their leading 3-point shooter only has like 22 or 23 made 3s so I think we can pack it in a little bit. Rebounding will be an issue and then just taking care of the basketball.”

Individually, the Mustangs have a pair of wings that handle the bulk of the scoring duties in 5-11 senior Brooklyn Birt and 5-8 sophomore Jordan Ohman. They’re averaging 15.1 and 14.8 points per game, respectively and are both shooting better than 30% from beyond the arc. They are also the team’s top two rebounders. Birt averages 7.9 boards a game while Ohman averages 5.6. They are complemented by senior point guard Cortlyn Greeley, who is averaging 6.1 points and 4.0 assists a game. 

Aside from Aubryn Clark, the Hodags should be as healthy as they have been over the past month with freshman Ellie Cummings (illness) and sophomore JaLyn LaChapelle (shin) getting back closer to 100% after being slowed by their ailments late in the regular season. 

“I think this will be the healthiest we’ve been in a long time. The sickness kind of went through the team and I think everyone’s on the upswing. Everyone’s feeling pretty good so that’s positive,” coach Clark said. “I think the girls know what we are and we know what we’re up against. So I think we just got to find a way to just compete for longer than we have. Some stretches we’ve competed against some of the better teams, but not enough. So (let’s) see if we can extend those moments.”

The winner of tonight’s game will face a likely rematch with top-seeded Rice Lake in the regional finals tomorrow. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. at Menomonie High School. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].