ROCHELLE — Defense and effort were the emphases for head coach Jon Gehm during his first season with the Rochelle Lady Hub varsity basketball program last winter. With most of their groundwork laid, Gehm and his staff will be looking for improvement on offense in year two.

The Lady Hubs returned to the hardwood for their first practice of the 2024-25 season on Monday. Rochelle will look to improve on a 13-18 overall record and a 2-8 record in the Interstate 8 Conference last season. The Lady Hubs will need both newcomers and returning players to step up, as the team will be replacing several starters from last season including All-Conference guard Alivia Henkel as well as guards Kara Martinez and Sydney Tabor.

“We have a hard working group and a lot of the girls were with us last year,” Gehm said. “They understand what we’re trying to do here and I think there’s a different energy in the gym. The girls are staying positive and they’re working hard every day… We have to execute better this year. We relied a lot on our athleticism last year and we were able to push the ball because we had players like Alivia. We have to execute down low and we have good post players.”

Senior forwards Kendyl Darby and Abby Metzger are two players back from last season who will take on leadership roles for the Lady Hubs this season. Junior guard Jaydin Dickey returns after earning a starting role last season, while senior guard Payton Cesarone and junior point guard Carmela Bright are two JV players who are expected to step up for the varsity team this season.

“We want to make sure we put our guards in positions to score,” Gehm said. “We need to execute better in the half court and stay out of foul trouble on defense. I think we have good shooters on this team and we need to shoot more consistently than we did last year. We have some girls who are high-percentage shooters off the catch and we want to maximize that.”

Junior guards Rose Luxton and Mary Chadwick are two more JV players who are expected to take on varsity roles for the Lady Hubs, who tip off the season at the Oregon Thanksgiving Tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 20. Rochelle’s home opener will be against Rock Falls on Dec. 5 and the Lady Hubs begin Interstate 8 play with a road game at Sycamore on Dec. 6. 

“We have to be more disciplined offensively and not turn the ball over as much,” Gehm said. “We need to understand what kind of defense is being thrown at us and where the pressure is coming from. We turned the ball over way too much last year, but if we can cut that down this year, we’ll be in good shape. We want to be playing our best basketball in February and compete for a regional championship. It’ll be a process and we need to get better every day.”