Redmen clip Tomahawk to put second notch in win column

RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL

Somebody was going to get win number two on Tuesday and that team was the Rib Lake Lady Redmen, who rode a 19-point performance from junior Nellie Hopkins to beat the host Tomahawk Hatchets 38-34.

The performances of Hopkins and senior Savana Radtke were huge as they allowed the Redmen to overcome more absences in their lineup. Sophomore Molly Heiser also had her biggest night of the season.

Being short-handed is something the team has become accustomed to this season. In this game, they were able to overcome it.

“It was not always pretty, but we’ll take the win,” head coach Mike Wudi said.

Hopkins hit nine of 12 shots overall from the field, including eight of 10 inside the 3-point arc, while setting a personal scoring high for the season. She also grabbed eight rebounds and had three steals and an assist.

Radtke made four of seven field goal attempts while scoring eight points. She had eight rebounds and two assists before fouling out. Heiser made four of six free throws and finished with eight points and six rebounds, doubling her point total for the season.

The Redmen played without senior Mackenzie Weinzatl and sophomore Tia Bube and, of course, remain without Lauren Pelnis who is out for the season.

“So again we were scrambling with our line up and substitution rotations,” Wudi said. “It’s hard to get a lot of continuity with all the injuries, illness, etc. we’ve been going through in January. It seems like we never have the same lineup two games in a row.”

Hopkins scored nine points, including Rib Lake’s lone 3-pointer of the night in the first half, which ended with the Redmen leading 16-15.

The second half became the Gracie Barrett show for Tomahawk as she hit seven shots from the field to account for 14 of her 16 points in the game. Tiana Gerstenberger added a 3-pointer for the Hatchets (1-11).

But Rib Lake got 10 more points from Hopkins, six from Radtke and five from Heiser in the half to open up enough of a margin to improve to 2-13 overall. Heiser hit three of four free throws and Rebekah Strobach aded one as the Redmen closed the game out from the free throw line.

Reagan Reinhardt had two points, four rebounds and two assists. Senja Koch pulled down two rebounds. Strobach had three assists and two rebounds.

The Redmen were a solid 14 of 27 with two-point shots but made just seven of 20 free throws.

“It was a match-up of two very similar teams,” Wudi said. “We started slow in the first half but did a much better job offensively in the second half and came away with a win on the road.”

Rib Lake heads to Phillips tonight, Thursday, to play the Marawood North leaders at 7:15 p.m. The Lady Redmen will host Gilman in non-conference play Monday before heading to Wausau to face a very good Newman Catholic squad Feb. 7.

Auburndale 55, Rib Lake 22

In a Marawood Conference crossover Friday, visiting Auburndale used suffocating defense to shut down the Redmen in its 55-22 win.

The loss put Rib Lake at 1-10 in Marawood games. Auburndale is 8-3 in league play and 12-4 overall and sits in second place in the South Division.

“They are a good team,” Wudi said. “They shoot the ball well and play great defense for the entire 36 minutes of a game. Their size inside and their outside shooting make them a tough opponent. We simply could not get enough good looks at the basket to score well against their defense.”

The Apaches got seven first-half points from Georgi Schmutzer and six from Natalie Aue while building a 26-9 halftime lead. Those two wound up leading Auburndale with 12 points apiece. Paityn Hamus added eight, six of which came in the second half.

Radtke came up two rebounds short of a double-double for Rib Lake. The senior scored 10 points and had eight boards. She made four of six shots from the field.

Weinzatl and Reinhardt scored five points each and Weinzatl pulled down six rebounds. She also had two steals.

Hopkins added two free throws. Jolie Gehrke, Strobach and Heiser had two rebounds each. The Redmen made both of their 3-point tries, one each from Reinhardt and Weinzatl. They were six of 23 on twopoint shots and turned the ball over 26 times.