T-Birds, Hodags tussle tonight for GNC lead

The Lakeland Thunderbirds and the Rhinelander Hodags meet to night at Rhinelander’s Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium with first place in the GNC on the line. Lakeland Times sports writer Brett LaBore and River News sports editor Jeremy Mayo break down the contest.

The scoop

Rhinelander and Lakeland meet in the first half of tonight’s doubleheader for first place in the Great Northern Conference standings near the halfway point of the regular season. Both teams are currently unbeaten in GNC play, though the T-Birds (9-4, 5-0 Great Northern) hold a half-game lead over the Hodags (9-3, 4-0 Great Northern) by virtue of their 69-16 win at Tomahawk on Tuesday night. Rhinelander bounced back from consecutive non-conference losses with a 68-37 win at Three Lakes Tuesday. Lakeland is looking to maintain its GNC supremacy as it has won a record 34 straight games in conference play. Rhinelander is trying to spring an upset to set the table for perhaps the team’s first conference title since the 2019-20 season.

A look at the teams

Lakeland —  The Thunderbirds have challenged themselves in the non-conference schedule while taking care of business in the Great Northern Conference. The Thunderbirds come into tonight’s game with a record of 9-4, previously ranked No. 10 in the WisSports.net D2 coaches poll that came out on Dec. 31. Lakeland has picked up big non-conference wins against Westosha Central and Stevens Point this season. They also took Laconia, ranked No. 3 in the WisSports.net D3 coaches poll as of Jan. 7, down to the wire in a close loss. Lakeland won their 30th straight conference game earlier this season, setting a new conference record. These battle-tested Thunderbirds are hoping to extend that streak tonight.

Rhinelander — So far this season, the Hodags have taken care of teams they should beat. That was until last Friday, when they shot only 29% in a 47-38 home loss to Wisconsin Rapids. Rhinelander has played strong defense allowing just 42.9 points per game — which is a close third in the conference behind Mosinee (41.7) and Lakeland (42.1). Offense has been the biggest struggle as of late. Prior to the Three Lakes game, the Hodags had averaged 42.3 points over their three previous games while shooting just 28.4% from the field. 

Players to watch

Lakeland — Senior superstar Kristina Ouimette is putting together another historic season for the Thunderbirds. She scored her 2,000th career point and broke her own school record with 49 points at Northland Pines on Dec. 20. She was averaging 31.5 points per game after 12 contests. There’s a lot more to Lakeland than just one player. Senior center Saylor Timmerman is back in a rhythm after missing the first few weeks of the season with an injury. She’s averaging 8.6 points per game, 8 rebounds and three assists in nine games. Ava Evenhouse, a junior, contributes 7.8 points and 6.4 rebounds. Senior Ali Timmerman has been a menace on defense, averaging 3.2 steals per game. Senior Cale Quade keeps the offense flowing, second on the team with 3.8 assists per game.

Rhinelander — Aubryn Clark is the spark plug that makes the Hodags run. She comes in averaging 22.4 points per game is shooting 41.1% from deep. She started to find her shot in again in the second half Tuesday at Three Lakes and finished the night 5 of 10 from 3-point range. She struggled in the Hodags’ previous three games, going a combined 12 of 42 from beyond the arc. Opposing defenses are giving Clark more and more attention, putting more onus on the Hodags to find a consistent second scorer. Sophomore Vivian Lamers is starting to fill that void. She’s averaging 11.2 points per game and had a 20-point night Tuesday in Three Lakes — giving her 17 points or more in five or her last six games.

Coach speak

Lakeland — “(We’re) looking forward to it. We like these big matchups, and it is great for the girls’ game and great for these players to go out and compete against people that they know and people that are going to bring a new level to the game, and we’re just going to go and compete and try do all those things that we like to do.”

Melissa Ouimette

Rhinelander — “(We’re) definitely the underdog. Their length just causes so much problems and Kristina is just super talented but I think No. 1 we got to believe we can compete. I think that’s No. 1, we can’t back down. Then, defensively, we’ve just got to find ways to slow down Kristina a little bit and then try not to let Saylor and Ava Evenhouse get going. They’ll probably run some type of zone, mix up some type of defense, but their length will be new for us. We haven’t seen that yet and the they’re a top 10 team in the state for a reason so it’ll be a good test for us.”

Ryan Clark