A tough stretch could become even tougher for the Rochelle Lady Hubs, who suffered a key injury during their varsity basketball game against Plano on Friday evening.
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ROCHELLE — A tough stretch could become even tougher for the Rochelle Lady Hubs, who suffered a key injury during their varsity basketball game against Plano on Friday evening.
Already playing without senior forward Abby Metzger, Rochelle was forced to play most of its game against the Reapers without junior guard Jaydin Dickey, who sustained a shoulder injury in the first half and didn’t return for the rest of the evening. Without one of their leading scorers and defenders on the floor, the Lady Hubs struggled to keep pace with the Reapers, whose athleticism in the backcourt proved to be too much in their 61-31 victory over Rochelle.
“We’re thinking about Jaydin,” head coach Jon Gehm said. “It was a tough blow to our team and she went down, it felt like the entire gym lost a little energy. It’s tough when we’re down two starters who are two of our leading scorers and it was hard for us to get anything going.”
Plano took an 18-11 lead after the first quarter, where guard Josie Larson scored eight points and buried a pair of triples to ignite the Reaper offense. Larson finished with a game-high 19 points for Plano, whose ball movement and dribble-drive ability overcame tough man-to-man defense from the Lady Hubs. Offensively, Rochelle struggled from the field, converting only two second-quarter field goals as the Reapers surged ahead to earn a 31-15 halftime lead.
“Plano does a really nice job of finding their shooters and finding their best players,” Gehm said. “[Larson] is very skilled and she does a really good job of getting to her spots. It’s very impressive over there and they’re very well coached. That’s a very good team.”
Junior guard Carmela Bright provided a boost for the Lady Hubs in the second half, where she scored 10 of her team-leading 12 points in the game. A first-year varsity starter at the point guard position, Bright played nearly the entire 32 minutes on Friday evening and overcame tough defense from Plano’s Sanai Young to finish as Rochelle’s only double-digit scorer.
“We ask a lot out of Carmela,” Gehm said. “She’s had to handle a lot of really good man-to-man pressure from teams like Sterling and Plano. [Sanai] was all over her and I thought Carmela handled it well at times. We have to keep challenging her to be aggressive for all 32 minutes. She’s someone who wants to play that many minutes and we need that all of the time.”
Plano built a 48-25 lead after the third quarter, where Reaper forward Chloe Rowe put home a trio of field goals to run her total up to 13 points for the game. The Lady Hubs (5-17, 0-6 Interstate 8), who have now lost 15 of their last 16 games, will attempt to end their recent rough stretch with a win during Thursday’s Interstate 8 Conference home game against Sycamore.