Warriors hold off Rockets: Hernandez leads Sterling to fourth straight win

ROCK FALLS – Lauren Hernandez made sure the Sterling girls basketball team stayed perfect on the young season Friday night.

Hernandez scored a game-high 18 points and did a little bit of everything to lead Sterling to a 49-40 win against Rock Falls in a tussle between rivals in the Sauk Valley Shootout at Tabor Gym.

“This feels great. Nothing’s bigger than Rock Falls and Sterling,” Hernandez said. “We started strong, but we let them back in it.

“We let up. It shouldn’t have been that close. I did not want to lose this game. I felt like it was my turn to step up.”

The Golden Warriors (4-0) built an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter. Rock Falls (2-2) chipped away and eventually took the lead late in the third quarter.

The Rockets led by a point on three occasions, the last at 35-34 early in the fourth quarter. A 7-0 burst put Sterling back in control.

Fittingly, Hernandez started the run by converting a three-point play. Aleena Hammelman, who had seven points, added a pair of free throws, and Stephanie Echebarria, who had six points, scored on a fast-break feed from Hernandez. That made it 41-35 Warriors with 5:35 left.

Rock Falls shaved the margin to 43-40 on a rebound put-back by Paige Last, who scored a team-high 14 points, with 3:06 remaining.

It was the last time the Rockets would score.

The Warriors spread things out and worked the clock the rest of the way, scoring the last six points from the free throw line.

Hernandez was 5-for-5 and Hammelman 4-for-5 from the line in the fourth quarter. Sterling had a big advantage from the line, going 26-for-33. Rock Falls shot 20 fewer free throws, going 8-for-13.

“Rock Falls-Sterling is always going to be like this,” Warriors coach Julie Schroeder said. “We came out and executed and made some shots, then we stopped doing the things that got us where we were this week.”

Schroeder was very happy with Hernandez’s performance.

“She’s worked really hard over the summer to be able to step up in games like this,” Schroeder said. “We would love for her and Nicole Renner to be on on the same night. Our team will be pretty good when that happens.”