Lady Hodags can’t keep up with Lakeland in GNC showdown

Once again, the Lakeland Thunderbirds showed the Rhinelander High School girls basketball team it has a long ways to go to be able to truly contend for a Great Northern Conference title.

Lakeland put the breaks on the Hodags, holding Rhinelander to 25.6% shooting and forcing 28 turnovers in a 62-28 decision at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

The game was a battle of the two remaining unbeaten teams in the GNC but Lakeland (10-4, 6-0 Great Northern) continued to show why its the class of the conference. Kristina Ouimette scored 27 points, Ava Evenhouse added 17 and the T-Birds won their 35th straight GNC game.

Friday’s contest marked Rhinelander’s second-lowest offensive output of the season. The Hodags (9-4, 4-1 Great Northern) scored 21 points in a road loss to Rice Lake Nov. 25. It also marked the first time this season Rhinelander did not have a scorer in double figures. Sophomore Vivian Lamers led the way with nine points while Aubryn Clark was held to a season-low seven points on 2 of 14 shooting. 

“It’s not hard see that we are pretty limited offensively,” Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. “We just got to at least get to a point where some kids have the confidence to at least look at the basket, take the open shot, be some type of an offensive threat. Otherwise it’s just key up on Aubryn and we just can’t score.”

Lakeland led wire-to-wire in the contest as it opened the game on a 26-4 run. A left-wing 3 by Aubryn Clark was Rhinelander’s lone field goal over the first 15-plus minutes of the contest. The Hodags found a little bit of life from the outside late in the half as 3s by Clark, Lamers and Dawsyn Barkus helped trim the gap to 29-15 at the break. 

The T-Birds re-established control when the second half commenced, scoring the first 10 points after halftime. The lead hovered in the 25-point range before the T-Birds made a late run in the final minutes. 

Lakeland — featuring a trio of 6-1 starters in Ouimette, Evenhouse and Saylor Timmerman — sat in a 3-2 zone much of the night and guarded the 3-point line well as the Hodags finished 5 of 17 from beyond the arc. 

It marked a continuation of offensive struggles for the Hodags, who have been held under 40 points in three of their last four games. Rhinelander shot less than 30% from the field all three of those contests, which were all losses. 

“We just couldn’t find Aubryn within the offense once she got rid of it,” coach Clark said. “They’re just not going to leave her. Vivian did a little bit better as the game went on looking the score a little bit. I thought Kelsey (Winter) was trying to battle, trying to score. Dawsyn was OK as well, trying to look the score, but we just got to get more kids. just offensive threats.”

    Rhinelander’s Vivian Lamers (22) and Aubryn Clark (1) guard Lakeland’s Kristina Ouimette during the first of a GNC girls’ basketball game at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Friday, Jan. 10. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Despite the offensive struggles, the Hodags fared OK defensively, holding the T-Birds near their season average of 60.8 points per game. Ouimette was held under her average of 31.5 points per game and eight of her points came in the final five minutes with the outcome already virtually decided. Ouimette, who came into the contest with 52 3-pointers on the season, was held to 1 of 3 from beyond the arc. Despite giving up height the Hodags out-rebounded the T-Birds 32-30 with Winter pulling down 10 rebounds for Rhinelander. 

“I thought defensively and rebounding, I thought we did an OK job. I thought we battled hard defensively. We did a pretty good job on the boards. I thought we won a lot of those battles,” coach Clark said. “I thought Vivian worked her really hard, played (Ouimette) pretty well. I thought we did an OK job helping out Viv when she was running her through the screens, but she is a fantastic basketball player.”

Rhinelander will get at least one more crack at Lakeland in the rematch on Valentine’s Day in Minocqua — and possibly another should the two teams cross paths in the WIAA playoffs. Coach Clark said there will be no secrets in the rematch and the Hodags will simply need to improve over the next five weeks.

“It’s five weeks away, but you know, Lakeland’s going to be the same. They’re going to do their 1-2-2 press, 3-2 defense, they’re going to be the zone,” he said. “They’re going to run Kristina through a lot of screens, going to post up Saylor. So nothing’s going to change. We just have to get to a point where we’re have a little bit better execution offensively, a little bit better zone offense, and see if we can find ways to score.”

In the interim, the Hodags have pair of key GNC games this week. Friday’s loss dropped Rhinelander into a tie for second with Mosinee, 1 1/2 games behind Lakeland. The Hodags will host Mosinee tonight at the Miazga Gym and then will travel to Medford on Friday in a rematch of the conference opener, which the Hodags won in overtime 63-58 after trailing by more than 20 points in the first half.

“Mosinee’s very, very talented, very athletic, (a) different style than tonight, but a very good team. We’ve got them on Tuesday, so we’ll be ready for them. Should be a lot of fun,” coach Clark said. “Then Friday we’re at Medford, which will be a really good battle.

“These next two games keep our spirits up, rest up, and like I said, defensively, I thought we were very good. So I think we just got to work on our offense.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].