Lady Hodags fall to Menomonie to end season

MENOMONIE — An underdog Rhinelander squad without its leading scorer put up a fight Friday night but, ultimately, did not have enough to keep up with Menomonie in the WIAA tournament opener. 

Brooklyn Birt tallied 17 points, including 13 in the first half, as the fourth-seed Mustangs cruised past the fifth-seeded Hodags 57-42 in Menomonie.

Senior Kelsey Winter scored a career-high 16 points for Rhinelander in defeat, but the Hodags fell behind early and could never quite fully make their way back. 

“We just couldn’t handle their pressure very well, but that was a better team than some of the teams we’ve beat recently, by far, and we made it a pretty competitive game. So really proud of the effort. I thought they played really hard,” Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. “My expectation was that we would come out here and compete. This morning when I woke up, I’m like, ‘I just hope the team comes here and believes they can win and compete versus just, mentally checked out,’ and I thought we did that. Second half we got all scored by one, so I thought we battled really hard.”

Menomonie led wire-to-wire in the contest, opening the game on a 10-2 run. The Hodags nibbled back to within seven points midway through the first but the Mustangs responded with a 10-3 run to go up 28-14 and eventually took a 34-20 lead to halftime. 

A 15-4 run pushed Menomonie’s lead to 25 with 7:37 remaining. Though Rhinelander closed the game on a 12-2 run, it was too little too late. 

    Rhinelander’s Kelsey Winter handles the ball against Menomonie’s Cortlyn Greeley during the first half of a WIAA Division 2 girls’ basketball playoff game Friday, Feb. 28. Winter scored a season-high 16 points in the Hodags’ 57-42 loss. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Winter had a number of highlights in her final game in a Hodag uniform. She scored Rhinelander’s first six points of the second half and then broke her previous season-high of 14 on a 3-pointer with 7:20 remaining. She added one more free throw down the stretch. Playing through a knee injury much of the year, coach Clark credited the competitive spirit Winter brought to the team. 

“She was battling hard. No secret that her knee is always a little bit of an issue, but she just keeps flying through it and she says, ‘Hey can I just get  a quick 30 seconds?’ Then she’s right back in and sets an example of a kid who just loves to compete and loves to play,” coach Clark said. “Really proud of her for the entire season what she’s done for her team.”

Ultimately, Rhinelander struggled with Menomonie’s man-to-man press, committing 25 turnovers in the contest. That limited the Hodags’ offensive opportunities as Rhinelander finished 34% from the floor on 13 of 38 shooting. 

Vivian Lamers added 12 points for Rhinelander, almost right on her average as she finished as the team’s second-leading scorer behind sophomore Aubryn Clark —who still took the team scoring title despite missing the final 12 game of the season due to a back injury. 

Senior Dawsyn Barkus added six for Rhinelander and four of the Hodags’ five seniors finished the game on the floor. Ava Kurilla and Reese Gehrig joined Winter and Barkus on the floor over the final minutes. Makenna Sternitzky did not suit up Friday due to a knee injury. 

Coach Clark said all five seniors were played important roles this year.

“We have a whole range of kids in the senior class that kind of encompass everything you’d want from a team, so, really proud of them. Obviously, they’ve invested a lot,” he said. “They’re pretty crushed right now, but I tell them that’s a positive thing, if you’re going out in tears, because it’s true grief. That means you invested your heart and soul into it, and I’m just could be more happy for them.”

Rhinelander finished the season with a 13-12 record. With only two seniors graduating from the regular rotation, Aubryn Clark set to return next year from injury, a number of underclassmen who saw significant minutes this year and a strong incoming freshman class there is plenty of optimism surrounding the program moving forward. 

“A lot of kids got a lot of minutes that in a lot of different roles that they didn’t expect to have at the beginning of the year,” coach Clark said. “The goal would be that this kind of leap frogs us forward next year when we have Aubryn back and then I obviously add Teagan (Clark). We could take a big jump forward.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].