Rochelle’s three sophomores didn’t just contribute to a victory Monday. They defined the Hubs’ 47-34 home win over Genoa-Kingston in a nonconference matchup.

Natalie Foster, Audrina Rodriguez and Gianna Olguin combined to score 33 points, nearly outscoring the Cogs (6-6). They also scored all 15 of the fourth-quarter points for the Hubs (4-7), including seven for Rodriguez.

“She’s a really good basketball player,” Rochelle coach John Gehm said. “We don’t have to remind her of that very often, she does a very good job of that herself. Tonight was one of those moments you can tell she was feeling it.”

Olguin led the way with 14 points. The Hubs forced 29 Genoa-Kingston turnovers and had 15 steals in the game.

Only one of those belonged to Olguin, but Gehm said she was still a defensive force both in the game and on the season.

“Gianna is constantly a threat to score,” Gehm said. “Defensively, she seeks out those opportunities to get steals.”

Foster was the one seeking out the steals in the fourth quarter. She had three, each of them leading to points for the Hubs.

The Cogs made it 32-29 on a bucket by Ari Rich, who scored 12 points despite missing a chunk of the second quarter with an apparent leg injury.

The Hubs scored 10 of the next 11 points, with Foster getting a steal in the stretch to aid the effort to seal the win.

“Natalie always plays hard,” Gehm said. “We always know what we’re going to get from her.”

The Hubs never trailed in the game, but also never led by more than six until the fourth quarter.

Genoa-Kingston coach Doug Brewington essentially used his five-player starting rotation the entire game, with the exception of the final two minutes of the first half when Rich left with her injury.

Brewington said this was because he felt the Cogs’ best chance to win was in man defense, and their top two players off the bench are very inexperienced in that defense.

“It was a coaching blunder, maybe I should have got them in, kept us a little fresh early on,” Brewington said. “That was kind of the thought process was to go with just five so we could stick in man. But ultimately it may have cost us in the fourth quarter because we didn’t have enough gas to give it that last go.”

Rich had three rebounds and two blocks for the Cogs. Presley Meyer had five rebounds, four steals and two blocks. Regan Creadon finished with seven points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a block.

The two teams met earlier this year in the Oregon tournament, with the Hubs coming away with the 50-37 win in that one.

Brewington said he felt like his team progressed in some areas but took a step back in others.

“We did better in the things that got us beat the first time and we regressed in things we did well the first time,” Brewington said. “Ultimately I saw a lot of good things.”

Rodriguez had five rebounds and five steals, while Foster had five rebounds and three steals. Carmela Bright led the Hubs with eight rebounds.

The Hubs improved to 4-3 in nonconference games this year but are 0-3 in the Interstate 8.

Rochelle doesn’t play another conference game until they play at Morris on January 10. Gehm said he thought both teams improved since that November meeting, and he felt like his players realized that.

“What we have to take from tonight and apply to those conference games is that we are a good basketball team,” Gehm said. “Genoa-Kingston is a good basketball team. We can compete with any team in this conference but we have to play our style of basketball.”