Markovic, Glenbard South rout Batavia

Batavia knew what to expect from Nevena Markovic and Glenbard South, but it didn't seem to matter.

“She was one of the best players in the conference last year,” Bulldogs coach Tim DeBruycker said of Glenbard South's 6-foot-4 senior. “... We knew what they had. Our game plan was good. We just didn't execute.”

The Raiders scored 18 consecutive first-half points to blow past former Western Sun Conference rival Batavia 66-46 Tuesday night in the girls basketball season opener for both teams.

Markovic finished with 29 points and 15 rebounds.

“She's a different player this year in my opinion,” Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. “She has worked tremendously hard between last season and this season. Her mentality is leave nothing behind. So you saw that tonight a little bit. There were times where I thought she was a little out of shape a little bit and got a little slow, but obviously that will come as we continue to practice and play.”

The Raiders (1-0) looked in midseason form early when they turned a 6-6 game into a 24-6 lead, a run that ended early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Batavia freshman Liza Fruendt.

“We had some clutch shots. We had some huge turnovers,” Fonda said. “Everything kind of clicked there and they did everything right. They couldn't miss, and Batavia was kind of passing it right where we wanted them to. Everything clicked at that point, so that was nice to see at the beginning of the season.”

Batavia has a young team, with only two seniors, and it showed.

“You can't come out here, turn the ball over in the first half and let them get easy points left and right,” DeBruycker said. “Our plan was to try to double down (on Markovic). We didn't do that. We tried to make her catch the ball a little farther from the basket when she put the ball on the floor and try to stop her, but you can see that didn't work. She put the ball on the floor and went to the basket.

“She's a great player. You've got to give it to her. We knew she'd get hers. We didn't want her to get (29). We were hoping 15. If we held her to 15 it'd be good. We let her go off too much.”

The Raiders led 38-17 at halftime and never let Batavia get close again.

“We got down double digits early and then it just stayed there,” DeBruycker said.

“... We did some good things in the third quarter, I thought. Showed a little bit of growth there.”

Junior Heather Anderson led Batavia (0-1) with 9 points off the bench. Danielle Chitkowski added 12 points and 9 rebounds for Glenbard South.