Fruendt finds basketball role models in her family
Nick Fruendt, the 2008 Batavia graduate and current junior at Northwestern, certainly made his impact as part of 88 Bulldog wins from 2004-08.
He’s also showing his influence as an older brother to current Batavia freshman Liza Fruendt. Liza started the year coming off the Batavia bench but has been thrust into the starting point guard role after Sami Villarreal’s season-ending knee injury last month.
Liza, the only Bulldog selected to the all-tournament team at the Oswego Holiday Tournament, is averaging a team-best 7.1 points, 2.1 assists and 2.0 steals. She said she certainly learned a lot from Nick.
“Nick worked so hard so I’ve always wanted to follow in his footsteps,” Liza Fruendt said. “It’s a thing that I have to work just as hard as he did or harder. He is such at a big level it is my goal to get there too.”
Liza Fruendt was in fifth grade when Nick was part of Batavia’s 27-2 team that lost to West Aurora in the 2006 sectional final.
“We would always play outside together or play one-on-one, it’s not very fair but we would always play together,” the 5-foot-8 Liza Fruendt said of her 6-6 brother.
“He’s such a good motivator. He’d tell me what I should work on and then I’d go outside and work on it myself. He put so much time and effort outside of basketball so that’s what I try to do. Same with (her older sister) Sara (a 2010 Batavia graduate). We work on our skills not just in practice.”
And what has the adjustment to varsity basketball been like as a freshman?
“It’s so much faster tempo, bigger floor. It’s just a whole different pace. It’s higher than my expectations for sure,” said Fruendt, who said she is getting more comfortable every game even with Villarreal out.
“I have to take control of the team. As a freshman it’s hard but as point guard that’s what you do. I have to make sure I keep composure and keep the team as one. It’s starting to get more comfortable. I’m starting to get where I need to be because Sami being out for the year. I am stepping up and it’s a lot more comfortable now.”
Villarreal was the first freshman to play varsity under DeBruycker a year ago and averaged 4.8 points a game. He said he’s seen some of the same freshman mistakes in both and also impressive strides in Fruendt’s play.
“Liza is coming along,” DeBruycker said. “She’s learning to make better decisions. You can still see some freshman mistakes, I saw that in Sami last year. She’s got composure. I’ll take the freshman mistakes with her aggressiveness and her ability to lead the team from that point position which is tough for a freshman but I think she’s doing a really good job in Sami’s absence. I’d like to see them both in there but that’s not how it’s going to be.”
Fruendt and the Bulldogs host another stellar freshman guard Wednesday night when Amanda Hilton and St. Charles East come to Batavia looking to reverse the Bulldogs’ 41-36 win earlier this year.
Hilton also has had an immediate impact with her averages of 11.7 points, 2.0 assists and 2.3 steals.
St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra is used to impact freshmen with players like last year’s four-year starter Lexi Baltes and former center Katie White.
“I would say Lexi and Amanda compare very well,” Drumtra said. “Lexi’s offensive numbers were probably not as high as Amanda’s but that really wasn’t her role. Lexi was a freshman starting with four seniors (one of which was White) and her role was to get the ball to them. Amanda’s role is to score. I think Lexi and Amanda are very similar in how well they handle the ball and see the floor. All I can say is that I have been blessed with exceptional point guards — four years with Lexi and now with Amanda.
“I knew Amanda was good but I have to admit that I have been pleasantly surprised with how quickly and how well she has adjusted to varsity basketball.”