ROCHELLE — A short-handed roster didn’t prevent former Lady Hub basketball players Abby and Ashley Kerns from standing out during their first season with the Kishwaukee College women’s basketball program this winter.

While Kishwaukee finished 5-24 on the season, the Kerns sisters started all 29 games for the Kougars, and the girls combined to average over 13 points and 12 rebounds while dishing out 6.5 assists and grabbing 4.5 steals per game. Both Abby and Ashley have committed to play for Kishwaukee next season, and they’re ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

“I think my first season as a college athlete was for the most part what I expected because Kishwaukee hadn’t had a women’s basketball program in a couple of years,” Abby said. “We didn’t expect to have about six players by the end of the season and wins didn’t come our way during the second semester.”

“I knew this year would be a build-up year and that’s exactly what happened,” Ashley added. “Since Kishwaukee hasn’t had a team I knew we would have to adjust to the challenge. The experience was pretty much what I expected.”

Abby Kerns finished her freshman season averaging 7.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for the Kougars while adding 3.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game. Her top performances this season included scoring 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and totaling nine assists and eight rebounds in Kishwaukee’s 65-56 win over Oakton Community College on Dec. 2.

“College is a lot different than high school most because of the shot clock and the game is a lot faster because you don’t have as much time to run plays or mess around,” Abby said. “I think I did pretty well at shooting considering I didn’t shoot as much as I should have during high school… I want to continue getting better at leading the team as a point guard and I want to become more confident in driving to the basket rather than just shooting.”

Ashley Kerns ended her first season with Kishwaukee averaging 5.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game along with 3.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Kerns recorded 10 points, nine steals and seven rebounds in Kishwaukee’s 51-38 win over College of DuPage on Nov. 7 and she totaled 10 or more rebounds four times this season.

“The college game is a lot quicker than high school,” Ashley said. “A big different between college and high school is having to think quicker… I think I did well with always having a good attitude and trying to bring my teammates up when they were down. I think I did really well on defense considering I was always put on the other team’s point guard or fastest guard. I want to continue getting better at my offensive game.”

Both Abby and Ashley shared the court throughout most of their high school basketball careers, and although they didn’t play together during their senior years, the sisters said their time with the Lady Hubs helped prepare them for the college game in many ways.

“I think doing the Hub Power program in the summer every year helped me prepare for the lifting we do in practice,” Ashley said. “Coach [John] Gleissner prepared me the most because he taught me how to be disciplined and patient. He taught me the importance of being in shape and how much better I can play when I’m in shape.”

“Rochelle basketball definitely prepared me because we were getting a lot of shots up at the end of my senior year which helped improve my shooting,” Abby added. “Coach [Tony] Rowan would always have us do full-court layup drills and everyone always hated them, but in college a lot of games rely on fast breaks and who can finish layups rather than outshoot the other team from the 3-point line.”