Late rally falls short as Lady Cavs defeat Rochelle

BY: Russell Hodges
Posted 12/14/16

ROCHELLE — When the Lady Hubs needed a basket, Jacie Wyatt answered the call.

Wyatt was the top performer for the Rochelle girls varsity basketball team on Tuesday, scoring eight points …

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Late rally falls short as Lady Cavs defeat Rochelle

Posted

ROCHELLE — When the Lady Hubs needed a basket, Jacie Wyatt answered the call.

Wyatt was the top performer for the Rochelle girls varsity basketball team on Tuesday, scoring eight points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the Lady Hubs’ 46-34 loss to LaSalle-Peru at Rochelle Township High School.
“Jacie’s the heart of the team,” head coach Tony Rowan said. “We try to get Jacie as many touches as we can. She’s one of those extremely unselfish players who always makes the best reads, whether it’s a shot or penetration and a pass… We just need her to be a little more selfish with the basketball and take more shots.”
Rochelle (3-6, 0-3 NIB-12 West) entered Tuesday’s game against the Lady Cavs seeking its first conference victory of the season after dropping a nail biter to Ottawa two weeks ago and falling to Geneseo in its home opener last Friday. Both teams came out with a defensive mindset early on, with LaSalle-Peru (6-3, 2-1 NIB-12 West) holding a 7-3 lead after the first quarter.
“The girls caused a lot of chaos and they forced a lot of turnovers,” Rowan said. “We got them to panic a little bit and we caused a lot of travels and bad passes. I’m very happy on the defensive side, but we just need to click on the offensive side.”

The Lady Cavs added 13 points in the second quarter, but the Lady Hubs were unable to find their rhythm offensively, scoring just four points in the quarter and entering the locker room down 20-7. Rochelle has been held to an average of 32 points per game since the beginning of conference play, with zone defenses being the primary culprit for the girls’ shooting struggles.
“We couldn’t get shots to fall again,” Rowan said. “It’s just about finding a rhythm offensively against zones and that’s what we’re having trouble doing... We want to get to the rim and zones prevent teams from getting to the basket. We’ve created a lot of open shots but our confidence has been pretty shaky.”
The Lady Hubs mustered up a short run in the second half to climb back into the game and cut the LaSalle-Peru lead to as little as five points, with senior Abby Kerns running the show at the point guard position and creating scoring chances for her teammates.
“The best thing about Abby is that she’s a floor general,” Rowan said. “She’s done a phenomenal job for me over the past four years of buying into the program and what we’re trying to do... Her numbers aren’t where she’d want them but she’s doing all the other things on the floor. She’s communicating offensively, defensively and she’ll always dive for loose balls... She’s exactly what I’d want my senior point guard to be and I’ve been very proud to see her grow throughout the years.”

But behind a strong effort from senior Riley Brovelli, who finished with a game-high 25 points, the Lady Cavs squashed Rochelle’s comeback and held on in the fourth quarter to escape RTHS with a victory. Junior Allison Lehn added 13 rebounds for the Lady Cavs, who attempted 34 free throws in the game to help extend their lead.

“When we put them at the line that many times… that’s a lot of points being put on the board with the clock being stopped,” Rowan said. “Sometimes we just play a little too fast for ourselves.”
Rochelle has lost four straight games since starting the season 3-2 at the Forreston Thanksgiving Tournament, but the Lady Hubs have a chance to end their losing streak on Saturday when they hit the road for a nonconference game against Genoa-Kingston.
But Rowan said the girls must cut down on their turnovers, and he’s hoping they can also find their shooting stroke this weekend.
“As players go through slumps they try and fix it with 90 different things,” he said. “They try and throw a lot of stuff at the board as opposed to focusing on one little piece… We just need the kids to dumb it down for themselves and focus on not having a thought in their mind when they shoot.”