Lady Hodags earn first win over Lakeland since 2020

MINOCQUA — After several years of struggling against their rivals to the north, the Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team finally got back in the win column Tuesday night against Lakeland. 

Aubryn Clark scored a game-high 22 points and Rhinelander stymied Lakeland’s offense in the second half — holding the T-Birds to only eight points after the break in a 53-29 win.

Despite a so-so night on the offensive end — Rhinelander finished the night under 31% (18 of 59) from the field — the Hodags cranked things up defensively in the second half and created finally created some separation.

“I was really proud of their defensive effort. And they were pretty excited,” Hodag coach Ryan Clark said after his team picked up its first win over Lakeland in nearly six years. “It was kind of a grind, obviously. We just couldn’t get that shot to fall consecutively enough to get kind of really good rhythm and movement, but to hold the team to eight points in the 2nd half, that’s pretty impressive.”

Though Rhinelander (7-6, 4-2 Great Northern) led most of the way, Lakeland (3-11, 2-5 Great Northern) made things interesting late in the first half. A driving layup by Savanah Kemnitz cut Rhinelander’s lead to three with 16 seconds remaining. That was until Aubryn Clark made, and was fouled on, a contested 3 in the right corner with 1.6 seconds to play. Clark made the subsequent free throw to complete the four-point play and put the Hodags up 28-21 at the break.

“Lakeland was just hanging around, hanging around, then they cut it to three. They just made a big play on the other end. So that was kind of nice. It gave us a little breathing room,” coach Clark said. “Great play by Aubryn, but good execution at the end of the half too. We didn’t panic. We got a good shot.”

Rhinelander slowly pulled away in the second half. Lakeland went 8 minutes, 27 seconds between field goals midway through the half and Rhinelander stretched the lead to 41-25 in that span. Coach Clark credited the adjustments his team made in the second half.

“The first half, I thought we settled for just a bunch of wide open 3s. And then defensively, I thought we were reactive,” he said. “We didn’t move our feet very well. We got a lot of fouls. We put them in the line a lot. And at halftime, we just talked about like, ‘OK, offensively, we got to get the ball moving. We can’t be afraid of their height.’ I mean, it’s one thing if we were hitting a lot of shots, but we weren’t hitting a lot of shots, and we’re just settling for shots. So like, let’s get the ball moving, get downhill, kick it back out, and see if they can get them to just move their defense a little bit. And then I said defensively, we got to play really sound defense. We’re better than that.”

    Rhinelander’s Vivian Lamers drives between Lakeland’s Savanah Kemnitz (20) and Sloane Timmerman (2) during the first half of a GNC girls’ basketball game in Minocqua Tuesday, Jan. 13. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Teagan Clark and Vivian Lamers each scored 13 for Rhinelander in the contest. The Hodags hit 10 3-pointers in the game. That’s their third-highest total of the season — trailing only the 11 they hit in the first two contests against Crandon (Nov. 20) and Eau Claire Regis (Nov. 28).

“We’re getting better. I mean, we’ve never we have been shooting poorly all year, which is frustrating, because I know we can really shoot the ball. We’re a good shooting team. We just haven’t done it,” coach Clark said. “But the bright side is, though, we’re playing really good defense, we’ve held another team under 30 points in our conference.” 

Ava Evenhouse, one of the lone remaining piece from Lakeland’s run of four straight conference titles between 2022 and 2025, had 12 points to lead the Thunderbirds. Lakeland has been a shell of its former self after graduating UW-Green Bay product Kristina Ouimette, among several others from last year’s squad.  

The last time Rhinelander defeated Lakeland was Feb. 11, 2020, toward the end of the Hodags’ last Great Northern Conference title run.

“Boy, they had a run. They did very well. They were a very tough team to beat. When you played Lakeland, the length and the (Ouimette) sisters and the talent, they were just really good team,” coach Clark said. “They represented our conference really, really well for quite a few years there. It’s cyclical, right? Teams go through trends. They’re inexperienced and have new kids stepping up and we’re on the other end right now. We’re climbing as a program for the next probably seven, eight years.”

Sloane Timmerman added eight points for Lakeland while Kemnitz had seven. Lakeland shot 34% (12 of 35) from the field and committed 31 turnovers. 

Rhinelander faces a tough test on the road tonight at Mosinee, likely needing a win to keep any hopes of a conference championship this season alive. Mosinee is undefeated in conference play, including a 43-32 win over the Hodags when the teams meet in Rhinelander back on Dec. 2.

“Tall, athletic strong, and it’ll be a grind. So the first time we play them, we did a nice job (and) surprised them with our zone,” Clark said. “But there are tough teams. going to be a really physical game. They play to their identity right now. They’re big, they’re strong, they’re physical, and they want kind of a slow, just grind it game. We’ll be ready if they do a triangle and two, but I’m looking for our girls to go down there and like, we need a statement win. We need to go down and beat a team that number one has already beat us, but it’s a really good team at their place.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].