The Missing Piece: How a volleyball star helped make Pecatonica a state basketball power
Elaina Rager does a lot of everything for Pecatonica. And does it so well she took conference MVP honors away from Tulsa recruit Whitney Sullivan, who was named the NUIC North’s best player as a sophomore for Orangeville two years ago.
Rager, a junior guard, is as good as ever this year. But she no longer is asked to do quite as much, which makes Pecatonica better than ever.
Junior point guard Kianna Degner gives Pecatonica a third star guard this year, to go along with Rager and senior sharp-shooter Lauren Mellentine. Without Degner, Pec tied the school record for wins with 22 each of the last two years. With Degner, Pecatonica is 18-3 and state-ranked for the first time in school history at No. 7 before Thursday’s 53-34 setback at No. 2 Orangeville.
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“Elaina was our point guard last year; she had to be our Batman and the person with the ball all the time,” Pec coach Daniel Rosenstiel said. “Now she has her Robin back. Kianna can take the stress away from being on Elaina all the time.
“She has changed the dynamic of our team. Kianna adds that element that makes us different from last year. She is a true point guard. She can do it all. She can get everybody going. She gets Elaina good looks and Laura good looks. We can stick her on any guard and feel comfortable that she can hold them down. She also has the ability to score.”
Degner’s big offensive games include 14 in a win over Lena-Winslow (14-7), 18 in the championship game of the Earlville tournament and over half of Pec’s points with 18 Thursday in the loss at Orangeville.
Not bad for a volleyball player who didn’t even go out for basketball last year, playing club volleyball instead. She did play a big role on Pecatonica's 22-win regional championship team as a freshman in 2022.
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“She is a big addition,” Lena-Winslow coach Dennis Huttenlocher said. “With her being able to handle the point, Roger doesn’t have to handle the ball. She is a good defender, too. She gives them an added dimension.”
Rosenstiel calls her “the missing piece" after getting her back after a one-year absence.
“It helps tremendously,” Rager said. “We only had one ball handler last year. Now she can help me out and handle the ball and she can score, too. She brings so much to the team.”
Her friends all lobbied for her to play basketball again.
“We wanted her out,” Rager said. “It was tough to not have her last year. We needed her back.
“And we got her.”
It wasn’t a tough sell.
“It didn’t take much,” Degner said. “I was ready to come back out and play. I missed it. I wanted to be back on the court with all of my girls, all of my friends. I was ready to be back out there.”
Pecatonica had never won a regional until 2017, the first time it won 22 games. Now it has added two regionals in the last two years. This year, Pec will probably play in the same regional as either Orangeville (21-1) or Freeport Aquin (14-4), which beat Pec by 18 in early January. It will be very hard to make a postseason run in an area with some of the best Class 1A teams in the state. But at the very least, Pecatonica should set a school record for wins and should be strong again next year.
“It makes it fun knowing we are good,” Degner said. “When I came back, it was like I was always there, like we were always a team.
“We work well together as a team. I am very glad I am there to help them, contribute and give it my heart.
“I made the right decision to come back out.”
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Kianna Degner was 'missing piece' for Pecatonica girls basketball
