Shots fall for Lady Hodags in Tomahawk blowout

The Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team finally saw the ball go in the hoop from the outside on Tuesday night, and had one of its best offensive performances of the season as a result.

Rhinelander knocked down a season-high 12 3-pointers and cruised to an 81-45 victory at Tomahawk in Great Northern Conference play.

The 81 points matched a season-high, set back on Nov. 29 against Wausau West. Tuesday marked Rhinelander’s first game with double-digit 3-point makes since knocking down 10 in a win at Lakeland Jan. 9. Prior to Tuesday, Rhinelander’s high for 3s in a game was 11, which the team achieved in its first two games of the season against Crandon and Eau Claire Regis. 

“We made multiple 3s. A lot of kids scored,” Hodag coach Ryan Clark said. “From the beginning of the year to now, like we talked about after the game, kids are much more confident to catch the ball, look to score, attack the basket — one through 12 — which is awesome because at the beginning of the year, we had just a few handful of kids that would do that.”

To wit, 11 of the 12 players who suited up for the Hodags got into the scorebook. Aubryn Clark paced the team with 24 points while her younger sister, Teagan, had 18. Both players made four triples in the contest. 

Rhinelander had balance behind that with five players who scored five or more points.

“I thought we did a good job. We spaced the floor well. We attacked well, we looked for each other and we knocked down shots,” coach Clark said. “We’re making good mistakes now. Early in the year, we wouldn’t even make those mistakes. We just wouldn’t look to attack. Good extra passes, the ball’s moving quicker. Tomahawk just kind of played us straight up. And that’s the first time in a long time, we got to play (against) straight man defense.”

The Hodags (12-9, 8-4 Great Northern) led virtually wire-to-wire in the contest, taking a 48-20 lead to halftime, all while extending its bench against the Hatchets (12-10, 6-6 Great Northern).

“I thought we came in really focused. We wanted to have a little bit better showing, and I thought we came out really aggressive,” coach Clark said. “And so we worked on some different presses that we haven’t done in a while. We executed those well. We got a lot of kids in to get some good minutes and we got some kids in spots where we want them to be successful, and look to score, so it’s a really good win.”

    Rhinelander’s Lily Kurilla puts up a shot against Tomahawk Freya Alberg during the second half of a GNC girls’ basketball game at Tomahawk Tuesday, Feb. 10. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Tomahawk forward Freya Alberg scored 27 points for the Hatchets and had her way in the post against the Hodags. She had a much more efficient night than the first go around against the Hodags, when she was held to 16 points on 6 of 15 shooting. Coach Clark said he used the game as an opportunity to test his forwards against a strong post player. 

“I wanted them just to work on just defending her one-on-one, see if they can keep her out of the pivot area and keep her away from the basket and we struggled,” he said. “I thought Freya did a really good job against us. But it was good for me to see, gave me a good indication where we’re at defensively inside.”

The Hodags were back in action Thursday night at Merrill in a game that concluded after press time for today’s edition. It was Rhinelander’s last chance to bolster its tournament résumé prior to the announcement of the bracket for the WIAA playoffs on Sunday. The Hodags sat as the No. 3 seed in their half sectional when the midseason report was released Jan. 30 and have won four straight since those projections were unveiled.

“They’ve played really well since then. We’ve been the stronger team, I think, every game, but we played well, and we’ve gotten better,” coach Clark said. “It’ll be interesting because New London beat Marinette tonight, by almost 20 (65-47), but Marinette’s sitting at that 2 seed. It’ll be really interesting. If it was a face-to-face meeting, I think the seeds might be different than if it’s a computer, but hopefully we can almost get ourselves to the 2 seed, but it’ll be really interesting. I think Pulaski, us, New London and Shawano are very similar. I don’t think it’ll be the 1-4 seeds like that, but it’ll be an open competition in that sectional for sure.”

The Hodags will face No. 2 (D2) Rice Lake, and Wisconsin recruit Adaline Sheplee, Tuesday night at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].