Kaneland takes control late vs. Rochelle behind Brown’s 26 points
Good teams find a way to win.
Kaneland is one of them.
While the Knights struggled to hold onto the ball against Rochelle during Tuesday’s Interstate 8 Conference game, they finally took control in the fourth quarter and pulled away earning a 64-46 win.
“It wasn’t sharp, but granted Rochelle is playing a lot better (than when the Knights beat the Hubs 65-37 on Jan. 6),” Kaneland coach Brian Claesson said. “We were just a little off here and there. They’d come and do a trap or something where we were not expecting it and we’d turn it over.”
Kendra Brown led the Knights, tying her season-high with 26 points, which included 16 in the second half. She also led the winners with eight rebounds.
“Coach told us at the beginning of the game that it’s going to be a scrappy game and you’re going to have to find a way to win no matter how scrappy it is,” she said. “We’re going to have turnovers, we’re going to have fouls, we’re going to have a whole bunch of stuff so just try to get that open look, keep moving the offense, try to find the open girl and be patient on offense and take care of the ball.”
Turnovers plagued both teams, although the 26 committed by Kaneland weren’t nearly as devastating as Rochelle’s 37.
“They have really good pressure and we turned the ball over a lot,” Kaneland senior Lexi Schueler said. “It was frustrating. We knew that because at the first game at their place they were a high-pressure team. They turn up the pressure and get a lot of turnovers.”
The Knights (19-8) were clinging to a 43-40 lead early in the fourth quarter, but closed the game on a 21-6 run to win their fifth straight while sending the Hubs (11-16) home with their fourth loss in five games.
Sam Kerry added 15 points and Schueler had 13 for the Knights.
“We knew we had to turn up the pressure and come back at them because they were forcing turnovers all game and that was the one thing we needed to stop,” Schueler said. “We didn’t stop it, but once we started hitting shots and making little runs it gave us more energy and the bench gave us energy, the band, the fans, everything.”
The Knights closed the first half on a 12-1 run to take a 28-22 lead. Momentum was clearly in their favor, but the Hubs wouldn’t go away.
“We started off really slow,” Brown said. “After halftime we said we’ve got to do something because this should not be a game after the way it started. We had to pick it up and play our game and not how they wanted to play.”
The Knights simply had to find a way to win.
“I think our team knows we aren’t the biggest team and we’re not always the fastest team, but we always give enough effort,” Schueler said. “Even if we’re not always getting all the loose balls or anything like that we know we have to have the effort all the time to make up for our deficiencies.”
Kaneland made 21-of-28 free throws while Rochelle was 11 of 13.
“I thought for probably the last two-and-a-half quarters our top girls played stepped up,” Claesson said. “Kendra (Brown) played unbelievably and Sam (Kerry) and Lexi (Schueler) and Emily Kunzer. We put (Kunzer) on their best guard and she kind of shut her down. Those guys stepped up and we needed that, and we made some free throws down the stretch.”
Senior Alivia Henkel led the Hubs with 19 points.