STERLING — The Lady Hubs varsity basketball team came within one point of knocking off the Sterling Golden Warriors during their first conference matchup this season. Rochelle met Sterling for the second time on Thursday, and with the Golden Warriors looking for an emotional Senior Night victory, the white and gold overpowered Rochelle in the second half to beat the Lady Hubs 61-39 and drop the girls to 10-16 on the season.

The two Northern Illinois Big 12 West rivals remained close with one another throughout the first half, with Sterling leading 13-10 after the first quarter and 26-23 at halftime. Junior Abby Lundquist generated most of the Rochelle offense early on, scoring 14 of her team-high 19 points in the first half including three 3-point shots.

“We were able to make some of their girls commit off the basketball and that allowed her to get some open shots,” head coach Tony Rowan said. “She made some semi-contested looks in the first half which speaks to her shooting ability. We just didn’t make buckets when we needed to in the second half.”

Sterling began pulling away from Rochelle in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Hubs 18-10 to jump ahead 44-33. The Golden Warriors used their size to punish Rochelle on the glass, with players such as Josi Borum, Brooklyn Borum and Gabriella Schilling (all of whom are over 5 feet 10 inches tall) netting several second-chance points for Sterling.

“They did a great job with their 1-3-1 zone and we did a lot of standing around,” Rowan said. “We were standing around and not looking to commit and attack offensively, and we were doing the same thing defensively.”

The Rochelle girls will look to bounce back with a victory against the Dixon Duchesses this weekend for their Senior Night. With the regional tournament just several days away, Rowan and the Lady Hubs will look to emphasize attacking the basket on offense.

“Our shots weren’t falling but we were able to make plays for each other to get open looks,” Rowan said. “Tonight just wasn’t our night.”