ROCHELLE — A fast start from the Rochelle Lady Hub varsity basketball team wasn’t enough to hold off an athletic Kaneland squad on Saturday afternoon, when the purple and white tipped off their Interstate 8 Conference matchup against the Knights with a 10-3 first-quarter run.

Junior Kendyl Darby drilled a pair of first-quarter triples for the Lady Hubs, who also stymied the Kaneland offense with effective 1-2-2 zone and 2-3 zone defensive schemes early in the game. But the Knights took control with their tempo and athleticism, beating Rochelle down the floor for layups and 3-point plays to take the lead late in the first quarter. Behind a game-best 20 points and five 3-pointers from Kendra Brown, Kaneland cruised to hand the Lady Hubs a 65-37 loss.

“I thought we came out with a lot of energy,” head coach Jon Gehm said. “We talked about having to play 32 full minutes and I thought the way we came out was perfect. Kendyl was great in the first quarter and Alivia was great on the fast break. We came out with pressure and we got up on them, but we need to get deflections out of our zone. If we aren’t doing that, then they can move the ball around. Our pressure was great early on, but we have to keep that up all game.”

Senior guard Alexis Schueler fueled Kaneland’s resurgence in the first quarter, pushing the ball down the floor and setting her teammates up for perimeter shots. Brown sank two 3-pointers in the first quarter for the Knights, who emerged with a 21-14 lead entering the second quarter, where the Lady Hubs brought themselves within one point thanks to a flurry of close-range baskets from senior Alivia Henkel, who finished with a team-high 10 points for Rochelle.

The Knights caught fire from 3-point range in the second quarter, draining four triples with Brown accounting for two of them. Kaneland’s shooting enabled the Knights to maintain a 35-24 lead at halftime. The Knights dominated the third quarter, using their speed and athleticism off the dribble to put home several layups and close-range baskets around the rim. Kaneland outscored the Lady Hubs 20-7 in the third quarter to take a 55-31 lead in Saturday’s game.

“They capitalized off of our mistakes and that’s what good teams do,” Gehm said. “When we turned the ball over, they got a bucket or a good shot. When we didn’t box them out, they got offensive rebounds and kicked the ball out for an open 3-pointer. When we didn’t set screens on our out-of-bounds plays or run our plays correctly, they capitalized and messed things up for us. We have to execute better. Kaneland was really good at disrupting our offense and our flow.”

Schueler finished with 14 points and three made triples for the Knights, while Darby totaled eight points and sophomore Jaydin Dickey scored nine points including seven in the second half for the Lady Hubs (8-12, 1-4 Interstate 8). Senior Kara Martinez nailed two first-half triples to finish with six points. Rochelle will travel for a nonconference road game at Hall on Wednesday.