DUNLAP — Two decades have passed since Dunlap last had any postseason success.

This year’s girls basketball team is aiming to erase that. With new coach Becky Fulkerson at the helm and star Julia Sollberger leading the charge, the Eagles (7-4, 3-0) ride a five-game win streak into Saturday’s key Mid-Illini Conference road game at Canton (9-4, 2-1).

Dunlap, which last hoisted a regional or sectional plaque in making a run to the 2002 Class A supersectional, is adapting to a new style of play under Fulkerson. The former Pekin coach says although her team faced a tough early schedule — and with her system only being implemented on the first day of practice on Oct. 30 — things are going smoothly.

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“I think we’re doing pretty good,” Fulkerson said. “We’re starting to click much better. They’re understanding what we want them to do on the floor a lot better. The chemistry of knowing the new system is going a lot better.

“We’ve got goals for where we want to finish in conference. We have goals for regionals …”

It’s not to say Dunlap hasn’t been knocking on that proverbial regional championship door. Just last season, the Eagles played for a Class 3A regional title game, losing to eventual state third-place finisher Peoria High. That team, under since-resigned coach Heather Cassady, went 23-7 for the most wins in a season since a 28-victory campaign in 2000.

Sollberger, for one, knows her all-around role has changed as one of five seniors.

The 5-foot-8 guard averaged 12.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists last season playing alongside fellow all-M-I first-teamer Sophia Remmel and second-team selection Payton Haley. Remmel, who averaged a team-best 13.1 points, and Haley, who chipped in 8.2 points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds, have both graduated.

Translation?

“This year I’ve definitely had to shoot a lot more than I’m used to,” Sollberger said with a laugh. “I’ve really made my 3-point shot a lot better, so that’s part of my game that has improved since last year.

“My game, overall, has been just attacking, kicking, getting (teammates) open.”

In August, Sollberger chose Northern Illinois over Wisconsin-Milwaukee to continue her playing career. The recruitment for her services heated up during the summer AAU circuit as she played for the Illinois Valley Warriors.

She felt DeKalb was where she belonged from the beginning.

“They just made it a really family (like) atmosphere,” Sollberger said of her NIU signing. “You always want to go where you’re wanted and that’s how they made it feel. Ever since the first phone call, it’s where I wanted to go and after a couple of visits, it really just solidified that for me.”

Despite many opponents focusing on Sollberger, she has shown her scoring chops this season. Her 18 points were a game-high against East Peoria on Tuesday. This came on the heels of scoring 29 points on 12-for-16 shooting with eight steals in beating Rock Falls last Saturday.

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In earning all-tournament team honors at the inaugural Dunlap Thanksgiving Tournament, she scored 20 points in battling Peoria High’s Iowa-bound Aaliyah Guyton and her 23 points in an eight-point title game loss.

“She was very receptive to listening,” Fulkerson said, “and hearing what we wanted her to do and embracing that role. … She’s a part of this team and she contributes to everybody on this team. She’s doing a really great job of being a leader and including others.”

Seniors Olivia Taylor, Justice Krus, Gianna Rummans and Whitney Bohanan are also lending a hand as Dunlap attempts to replicate its success from the pandemic-shortened 2021 season.

The Eagles went 12-2 and won the Mid-Illini regular season for the first time in program history. As one of three unbeaten teams left in the league, it’s not going to be an easy task to win in the Mid-Illini or make it to the sectional. But Dunlap has that in its sights.

“The new system is helping us bond together as a team,” Krus said, “and it’s something that we all have in common, and I think it’s making us closer on and off the court.

“… One of our expectations, I think, this year is to win that regional, and you know, take the conference title.”

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA basketball: Dunlap girls and D1 recruit eye end regional drought