Girls basketball: Led by stingy defense, DeKalb looks to make leap

DeKALB – The DeKalb girls basketball team last year matched its highest overall and conference win totals since the pandemic in coach Brad Bjelk’s second season.

With summer ball winding down this month, the team is gunning for more than 15-17 and 4-6 in the DuPage Valley Conference.

“We really limit ourselves. I won’t say any team put us in a box,” rising senior Kezariah Mitchell said. “We put ourselves in a box. Anytime we’re losing, we’re down because of ourselves, not because of what a team is doing. That’s on us. We can do anything that we want to do.”

DeKalb was 15-4 last season when allowing 45 or fewer points and 0-13 when giving up 46 or more. The Barbs lost their last six games of the year, giving up 56 or more points in five of them.

Mitchell was a second-team selection on the 2024 Daily Chronicle Girls Basketball All-Area Team and leads a stingy DeKalb defense. Bjelk said the goal is for the defense to lead to offense not only for Mitchell but the whole team.

“She’s a hard worker and very competitive,” Bjelk said. “She tends to bring those things every day to practice and into the game, so it really pays off. She’s physical, and we are a physical team. It’s been one of our backbones, so she sets the tone with that very well.”

Mitchell said the team hopes to build off last season on the strength of the defense.

“If the ball is there we are going to go get that,” Mitchell said. “We want it bad enough to where we’re going to get on the floor and go get the ball. So defensively, if we just talk and rotate we’re always there. Our lowest is when we’re not talking. But anytime our defense is there, high energy, we’re rotating ... that is transitioning into offense.”

And when it comes to scoring, Bjelk said Alicia Johnson is one of the best shooters on the team and will be a spark.

Like her coach and Mitchell, Johnson said everything is going to start on defense.

“We’re definitely coming more together as at team,” Johnson said. “I think we’re going up. If we just play our game, we can compete with anybody who we want to compete with. We’ve got a lot of talent on the team. Everybody has talent coming off the bench. There’s a lot of talent. We just have to know how to maintain it.”

Bjelk said he’s also been pleased with the play of a core of returning players, including Olivia Schermerhorn, Ella Medina and Ella Russell. Johnna Patrick brings a lot of composure for a freshman, he said.

Bjelk hopes everything adds up to a successful season for a team looking for its first winning campaign since the 2022 season and first playoff win since 2020.

“A lot of girls have been working hard and getting better,” Bjelk said. “That’s kind of what summer is about, trying to improve the skillset and see where people are at and what we might want to implement or where we need to work.”