Late scores allow Shawano to slide by Lady Hodags

SHAWANO — The Rhinelander High School girls’ basketball team did a good job against standout senior and Wisconsin recruit Leah Nordin Tuesday night. However, the Hodags will need to be a little bit better should the teams meet again in the postseason.

Nordin was held to 15 points, but broke a 37-all tie with a personal 4-0 run in the final 1:14 of the contest as the Hawks held off Rhinelander 42-38 in Shawano. 

Rhinelander put the brakes on Nordin, holding her well below her season average of 27.3 points per game, but struggled again on the offensive end of the floor. The Hodags were just 28% on the night (11 of 39) and committed a couple of key turnovers late that allowed the Hawks to break the deadlock.

“A lot of growing things we can learn from. I told the girls this is an opportunity. We might be here for playoffs — same location, same team. We just got to be a little bit better, not hurt ourselves,” Hodag girls’ coach Ryan Clark said.

Aubryn Clark scored a game-high 18 points, including a free throw that tied the game at 37 with 1:24 remaining. Nordin drove through a double team on the other end and then gathered a loose ball under the hoop after her pass to Jaydn Brown was deflected. Teagan Clark was called for a foul from behind and Nordin made both free throws to give Shawano the lead. 

    Rhinelander’s Lexi Beran puts up a shot against Shawano’s Anna Dreier (22) and Creden Weisnicht (32) during the second half of a non-conference girls’ basketball game in Shawano Tuesday, Jan. 20. Beran finished with nine points and 10 rebounds in a 42-38 loss. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Rhinelander’s next possession ended in a turnover as Vivian Lamers missed Aubryn Clark and the loose ball was scooped up by Nordin for a transition layup that made it 41-37 with 1:01 remaining. The Hodags survived a turnover by Teagan Clark as Nordin missed a 10-footer. Lexi Beran was fouled on the other end and made one of two free throws with 23.6 seconds left. She gathered her own rebound after missing the second, but missed a putback attempt and Brown made one of two free throws on the other end to ice with 9.7 seconds left.

“This is the first game we had this year that was within 10 points, win or lose,” coach Clark noted. “We haven’t had a single-digit game yet. So it’s the first time we’ve had a tie game within one, down one, with three (minutes) to go, and you can kind of tell. We didn’t execute very well. 

“We had some just critical turnovers at the end there. Stay out of the corner … They let us catch it there for a reason, and we got a little bit stuck. Then those turnovers were live-ball turnovers for two points.”

Rhinelander fell behind 9-0 in the contest as it struggled against Shawano’s 1-3-1 zone. But the Hodags held the Hawks scoreless over the final 8:55 of the half and finished on a 9-0 run over the final 2:22, capped by a corner 3 by Aubryn Clark just before that horn that gave Rhinelander a 15-14 lead. 

“You know, we started off really slow offensively. We didn’t score for quite a while. Their zone kind of got us a little bit hesitant, but we were kind of hanging our head on our defense,” coach Clark said. “I just kind of told my girls, ‘We’re playing good D. We’ll get going.’ To go up one at the half with that big shot, Aubryn hit in the corner was huge.” 

The Hodags opened the second half on a 7-0 run to go up 22-14 before Shawano regained its footing.  

The Hawks scored seven straight to get within 22-21 with 14:10 led and eventually took the lead on a Callie Otto putback with 10:04 remaining. Aubryn Clark picked up three fouls over the first six minutes of the second half, forcing her off the defensive assignment against Nordin — who scored 10 points after halftime.

“Then they went and posted up Vivian and Teagan right away with her. That was a little momentum swing,” coach Clark said. “I thought Aubryn defended her really, really well. We matched up well because, Nordin, if you put a small guard on her she’ll post you up. You put a bigger player on that’s not as quick, she’s going to take you to the basket. Aubryn can play big, obviously. So that was a good matchup.”

Aubryn Clark put Rhinelander back ahead 33-32 on a right wing 3 with 4:13 remaining, but Anna Dreier answered on the other end as Shawano retook the lead. Two free throws by Beran and one by Aubryn Clark made it 36-34 Rhinelander with 3 minutes left, but Otto converted a 3-point play with 2:48 left and Shawano did not trail the rest of the way. 

Shooting woes continued all the way around for the Hodags. Teagan Clark was held to five points while Lamers had only three. Rhinelander was 7 of 28 from deep and attempted only 11 shots inside the arc in the contest. The struggles were compounded by a 9 of 19 night from the foul line.

“We don’t have an inside attack right now, and everything’s just perimeter-oriented, and the defenses just keep extending because there’s no threat at the rim,” coach Clark said. “I thought in the second half we got downhill a little bit better. But we got to find ways against these zones and man to be more inside, at least an inside-outside presence. We don’t score many 2s. We’re not getting transition baskets … We got to find a way to get some easier baskets for sure.”

Beran finished with nine points and 10 rebounds for Rhinelander. Brown added 14 points for Shawano while Dreier had eight. Rhinelander held Shawano to under 33% shooting (15 of 46) and just 3 of 21 from the outside. 

Coach Clark said he likes his team’s chances if there is a postseason rematch with Shawano, as long as the Hodags don’t beat themselves. 

“We need a little bit better next play mentality. And I’ll take the ownership on that. If we can do that, and not beat ourselves, but just have a little bit better response to mistakes, I think we’ll be pretty tough to beat,” he said.

The Hodags were back in action Thursday at Medford in a game that was pushed forward one day due to tonight’s bitterly cold forecast. Visit RiverNews

Online.com for a recap of that contest and read a full report in Tuesday’s River News. 

Rhinelander is home Monday, facing Tomahawk in a boys-girls doubleheader that is a make-up of Jan. 6 contests that were postponed due to icy roads. The girls’ game will tip at 6 p.m.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].