Lady Hubs basketball team topped by United Township

Rochelle suffers close 46-44 loss to Panthers at KSB Classic

Russell Hodges
Posted 12/27/17

The Lady Hubs varsity basketball team had one final shot at taking down United Township when the Rochelle girls faced the Panthers in consolation action at Dixon High School’s KSB Holiday Classic on Thursday.

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Lady Hubs basketball team topped by United Township

Rochelle suffers close 46-44 loss to Panthers at KSB Classic

Posted

DIXON — The Lady Hubs varsity basketball team had one final shot at taking down United Township when the Rochelle girls faced the Panthers in consolation action at Dixon High School’s KSB Holiday Classic on Thursday.

Trailing by two points with less than 10 seconds remaining, senior Britney Salinas found teammate Morgan Baker for a potential game-winning 3-pointer in the left corner. As United Township defenders collapsed around Baker, the senior’s shot went up toward the basket, but the ball bounced off the front of the iron. The Panthers recovered the rebound, and they hung on to beat Rochelle by a final score of 46-44.

“The effort today was some of the best I’ve seen throughout the season,” head coach Tony Rowan said. “We really put together four quarters today and there was a lot of true grit from our players. They battled all the way through and they kept their composure.”

United Township held a slim 10-8 lead over the Lady Hubs in the first quarter before outscoring Rochelle 15-13 in the second quarter to enter the locker room at halftime up 25-21. Junior Abby Lundquist helped the Lady Hubs fight back in the third quarter, scoring five of her team-high 24 points at the end of the quarter to give Rochelle a 35-31 lead.

“We ran a lot of the defenses that we’re good at,” Rowan said. “We were able to capitalize on some open looks late in the game and our kids did a good job communicating on the floor to limit their open looks. They were just able to knock down shots at key times.”

The Panthers were aggressive on the boards all game long, and some second and third-chance opportunities off missed shots allowed United Township to jump ahead of Rochelle late in the fourth quarter. The Lady Hubs, who fall to 6-8 overall with the loss, will play Sterling and Newman Central Catholic in their final two tournament games this weekend.

“The big thing is we need to keep sharing the basketball,” Rowan said. “Having confidence in our shots is going to be key. The first quarter was a little bit soft for us as far as having confidence in our shots.”