Hodags beat Raiders with pressure, misses hurt vs. Macks

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

It’s not often a basketball team holds its opponent to zero points for the first 14 minutes of the second half and still loses by double digits.

That’s the kind of night it was Tuesday for the Medford Raiders.

The Raiders started fast, getting out to an 8-4 lead and then it all unraveled over the next 12 minutes as they crumbled under solid pressure defense by Rhinelander, who turned turnovers into points and also hit four game-breaking 3-pointers to build a 22-point halftime lead and eventually win 51-33.

It was not the outcome the Raiders expected in a key mid-season battle for second place in the Great Northern Conference between two teams with 2-1 league records entering the contest.

Medford fell to 3-5 overall, while Rhinelander bumped to 8-4 and sits in a second-place tie with Lakeland in the GNC behind undefeated Mosinee (4-0, 120).

“We started out really good, which is what I figured we would do, and then all of a sudden, we thought ‘we’ve got this,’” Medford head coach Greg Klapatauskas said after the loss. “We relaxed a little bit, they kept playing and we didn’t. We didn’t execute. We let the pressure get to us and we just didn’t execute. We started doing things and being in spots where we didn’t practice.”

The Raiders got to the basket early, getting four quick points from Laurissa Klapatauskas and two apiece from Lydia Pernsteiner and Brooke Rudolph. But it’s no secret in the GNC the Hodags and their head coach Ryan Clark stress ball pressure and they cranked it up with 1-31 and 2-1-2 presses that turned the game around after the 12-minute mark.

The Hodags took the lead for good at 11-8 on a Lily Treder 3-pointer, bumped it to a 10-point bulge at 20-10 on a Megan Brown triple and doubled up Medford 26-13 on an Audrey Schiek 3. Five points from Katie Brehm did little to slow the Hodags, who closed the half with an Ava Lamers steal that turned into a threepoint play with 1:04 left and a 40-18 halftime lead.

“We quit doing the things we’re good at,” Greg Klapatauskas said. “We were patient and getting baskets, then all of a sudden we had a few turnovers and then when we did get the ball down, we started jacking up shots. When girls were open, we didn’t see them. When they weren’t open, we tried to throw it to them.”

The bright side of the second half was more aggressive trapping out of the 2-3 zone restored Medford’s defensive intensity. The Hodags didn’t score in the half until Lamers hit a 3-pointer with 3:55 left in the game.

Unfortunately, the Raiders turned the ball over eight more times –– on their way to 40 for the game –– and missed three shots from 7 feet and in before Laurissa Klapatauskas finally took a cross-court pass from Autumn Krause and scored with 8:50 left to end what amounted to a scoreless quarter of basketball. The Raiders only got within 40-24 before Lamers broke the ice for Rhinelander and got within 48-33 on a Klapatauskas score in the last minute.

Klapatauskas led the Raiders with 13 points, while Brehm had eight and Rynn Ruesch scored five. Krause had three points, and Rudolph and Pernsteiner had two apiece. Brehm had a team-high eight rebounds, while Ruesch and Bryn Fronk had six each. Pernsteiner had three steals and Ruesch had two assists. Medford outrebounded the Hodags 38-27 and forced 25 turnovers.

Lamers led the Hodags with 15 points, while Schiek and Brown had 10 apiece.

“Maybe that’s the silver lining out of all of this is that we looked good with the trapping,” Greg Klapatauskas said. “Rhinelander had problems with it. Maybe that’s what we have to be. Elevate a little bit, start trapping earlier, trap all over the court and maybe force some turnovers.

“I liked how we responded in the second half. We just didn’t make shots.”

Medford’s game at Northland Pines Friday was rescheduled for Jan. 17 as Covid issues hit the Eagles basketball program this week. The Raiders get their first shot at Mosinee Tuesday at Raider Hall with a 7:15 p.m. start.

McDonell 57, Medford 42

On Dec. 30, one didn’t have to read deep into the game statistics to find the major difference in McDonell Central’s 57-42 win over Medford in non-conference play at Raider Hall.

The Macks, who entered the game as the state’s second-ranked Division 5 team according to last week’s WisSports. net coaches poll, simply shot the ball better in a game they only trailed briefly in the opening moments.

“We needed to make more shots and free throws,” Greg Klapatauskas said. “The missed free throws were big.”

McDonell made 15 of 28 two-point shots and five of 13 3-pointers while shooting 48.8% overall from the field, while the Raiders shot just 30%, making 11 of 34 two-point shots and four of 16 3s. Medford was just six of 20 on shots taken in the lane, while McDonell was nine for 16. The Macks seemingly hit a big 3 whenever Medford made a run to put a stop to it.

“Every time we got within six or so, it seemed like they would make two shots in a row to get it back into double digits again,” Klapatauskas said. “If we would’ve gotten some of those shots to fall earlier in the game, we maybe could have tied it or taken the lead on one of those runs and then slowed the game down.”

Amber Adams and Emily Casper were the biggest rally killers for McDonell. Cooper hit three of the Macks’ five 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. Adams did her damage with mid-range shots, many of which came from the baselines, and scored a game-high 19 points.

Cooper hit her first two 3s right off the bat. The second of those countered a Fronk transition basket and a 3-pointer by Krause and put the Macks up 6-5. Baskets by Sophie Brost and Rudolph got Medford within 10-9, but Adams then hit three straight shots and Emma Stelter added two free throws to open up an 18-9 lead. Maddie Geissler’s late 3 matched a 3-pointer by Krause and put McDonell up 25-14 at the half.

The lead hit 13 before Medford started chipping away in the second half. An offensive rebound by Laurissa Klapatauskas led to a Ruesch basket, Ruesch made two free throws and Fronk banked in a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 29-23 with about 14:00 to go.

But 3s by Marley Hughes and Casper pushed the lead back to 10 at 35-25, before Medford got a Rudolph free throw and a 3-pointer from the left corner by Ruesch to get within 35-29 with 9:30 to go.

But Hughes hit a mid-range shot and Adams converted a three-point play on a transition chance to push the lead back to 11. Rudolph’s score for Medford was countered by an Adams hoop and the margin never dipped below double digits again.

Ruesch scored all of her team-high 11 points in the second half and added six rebounds and two assists. Fronk hit three of four shots from the field to score seven points and added three assists and two rebounds. Rudolph also scored seven points.

Brehm had six pints, seven rebounds and two assists. Krause finished with six points on her two first-half 3s. Klapatauskas had three points, three assists, three rebounds and two steals and Brost scored on an early drive to the basket and added three rebounds.

Medford forced 18 turnovers and had 14 of its own. McDonell held a slight 31-28 edge in total rebounds.

The Macks, who played without leading scorer Lauryn Deetz and were coming off a 43-41 loss at Rice Lake the previous day, improved to 6-2 at the time of the win.

Raider Katie Brehm gets behind Rhinelander’s Brynn Brzycki, scores and gets fouled late in the first half of Tuesday’s loss to the Hodags.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS