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Pecatonica ladies off to 5-1 start in new basketball season
By Trenten Scheidegger
The Pecatonica Indians rattled off four consecutive victories to start the new varsity girls’ basketball season. After suffering their first loss of the year, they quickly bounced back to improve to 5-1. That includes a second-place finish at this year’s Oregon Tournament.
The Indians began the 2024 tournament with a massive 49-18 victory over Ashton-Franklin Center on Nov. 22. The next day, the Indians picked up a statement win over a fellow NUIC opponent in the Lena-Winslow Panthers.
The Indians wasted no time in separating themselves from the Panthers. They outscored Le-Win 13-7 as they nearly doubled them up in the opening quarter. The same was true in the second quarter when Pecatonica outscored Le-Win 15-8. By then, the Indians held a 28-15 lead going into halftime.
It was a big night for Pecatonica’s leading scorer, Elaina Rager. Recently, Rager made her commitment to play Division 1 basketball at Wright State. Rager continues to look like an elite scorer as she dropped 24 points in the win over the Panthers.
The Indians put things out of reach in the second half. They put up 26 points in the third quarter alone, nearly matching their total from the entire first half.
Senior, Kianna Degner, found a number of ways to make an impact on the game, as she has been known to do. Degner finished with seven points, six rebounds, four steals, and two assists as the Indians beat the Panthers 53-24. Freshman, Ryleigh Alexander, had seven rebounds and five assists in the win as well.
The win over the Panthers propelled Pecatonica into the championship round where they would take on the Dixon Duchesses. Dixon is one of the top teams in Northern Illinois. Last year, the Duchesses won 27 games. This season, they are off to a 6-0 start. That includes a big victory over the Indians in the Oregon Tournament Championship.
The Indians didn’t do themselves any favors by not showing up offensively. As a team, Pecatonica hit just eleven of their 38 shots. Pecatonica head coach Daniel Rosenstiel said that, “Obviously isn’t going to help you win versus a really good team like Dixon.”
Payton Thomas led the Indians with seven points as they fell to Dixon 47-24.
Still, the Indians went home with a 4-1 record and a second-place finish after taking on some fierce competition. The important thing was how they would respond, and they did so in a big way in their game against Polo on Nov. 26.
It didn’t take long for the Indians to restore their offense as they put up 60 points in a blowout effort over Polo.
It was another breakout performance, this time for freshman, Korah Noud, who posted a career high 14 points. Noud shot five for seven from the field as she led the way in the win.
Degner led all scorers with 18 points, including going four for five from three-point range. Degner also racked up six assists in the game. Rager added 13 points and seven rebounds. Alexander had six points and six steals as the Indians beat Polo 60-31.
Rosenstiel shared that the key to victory, “Was our ability to hold Polo’s junior All-Conference guard, Cam Jones, to six points. She’s been a big time player in the area, especially in the NUIC South, for years now. For us to limit her to six points was big time on the defensive end.”
As a team, Pecatonica’s defense had 17 steals in the win.
On Thursday, Dec. 5, the Indians hit the road as they travel to take on the Dakota Indians. They don’t return home until Tuesday, Dec. 10, when they play host to Winnebago. That game is set to tipoff at 6:45 p.m.
