Lady Hodags put clamps on Merrill in decisive win

The Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team put on a defensive masterclass on the road Thursday, Feb. 12 against Merrill in Great Northern Conference play.

The Hodags held the Bluejays to 14% shooting and forced 23 turnovers in a 54-12 victory. 

It took a deep 3 by Merrill’s Grace Reimann in the final seconds just to get the Bluejays (4-17, 3-9 Great Northern) in to double figures. Aubryn Clark led the Hodags with 19 points, Teagan Clark added 13 and Rhinelander (13-9, 9-4 Great Northern) led wire-to-wire to run its winning streak to six games.

“To hold a team to 12 points, pretty incredible. We’re just locked in. What I like is that it doesn’t matter who goes on the court, they execute what we work on in practice,” coach Ryan Clark said. “We got some runouts on them. We just mixed up our 2-2-1 and our 1-2-2 presses. But we also defended really well the half court.”

The Hodags got off to a somewhat slow start on offense, scoring just 17 points over the first 13 minutes of the first half. Rhinelander matched that total over the final five minutes, going on a 17-3 run in that span to take a 34-5 lead to the break. 

The Hodags continued to pull away in the second half. Ellie Cummings, who matched a season-high with nine points off the bench, made a driving layup with 9:36 remaining to make it a 40-point margin and the running clock rule went into effect as the Hodags kept that lead to the 9-minute mark. 

Offensively, Rhinelander made 10 3s on the night — only the fourth time this season the team has made double-digit 3s in a game. That came on the heels of a season-best 12 triples two nights earlier in a win at Tomahawk. 

Aubryn Clark had five of those triples, Teagan Clark had three and, combined, the Clark sisters had 10 assists on the night.

“We went against their zone. I thought we moved the ball well. We actually didn’t shoot it great. We shot it OK,” coach Clark said. “We were kind of hot and cold. You know, Teagan shot pretty well in the first half. Aubryn was a bit hit and miss a little bit, but we just moved the ball, got some easy transition baskets, and then we were really patient in our offense.”

The Hodags finished the night 43% from the field on 20 of 47 shooting and had nine different players score in the contest. 

Keira Clerveaux paced Merrill with five points and was the only Bluejay to make multiple field goals. Merrill shot just 5 of 35 in the contest. 

The Hodags were set to learn their seed for the upcoming WIAA girls’ basketball tournament on Sunday, with the brackets revealed after deadline for today’s edition. Should the Hodags get on a run and make it through their half of the sectional, tonight’s non-conference contest at home could be a sectional final preview as Rhinelander takes on Wisconsin recruit Adaline Sheplee and the second-ranked Rice Lake Warriors. 

Coach Clark said it will be a daunting matchup, but it comes at a perfect time of the season for his squad. 

“Obviously, Sheplee’s really tough. She a tough matchup. Their big inside (Addison Schmitt) is also very difficult. We’re going to find a way to play a defense where we can minimize their advantage inside. But I think our girls are going to be excited for that opportunity. We have a chance to clean up some things, but also just get out there, match their intensity and compete and see what we can do.”

Tip off is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].