Batavia hangs on to defeat Glenbard South
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Batavia got the start it wanted at Glenbard South on Tuesday night.
More importantly, Batavia got the finish it needed in a 49-43 nonconference girls basketball victory at Glen Ellyn.
The Bulldogs (1-0) rode hot 3-point shooting and aggressiveness on the offensive boards to a 14-2 lead after one quarter, 17 points at its peak in the second quarter.
"We just got off to a good start," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. "We were moving the ball well, we had a couple of girls knock down some 3s, we were playing good defense, we were real active on both sides of the ball on the glass, and even if a shot didn't fall we were at least getting a hand on it and at least a second shot attempt, whether it went in or not."
The 3-pointers were important for Batavia, hitting eight, six of them in the first half.
"I want us to be an inside-out team, but by default at times we're an outside-in team," Jensen said.
"Batavia's a good team," Raiders coach Julie Fonda said. "They shoot lights-out. ... They're a good shooting team, and we knew that, but it's hard the first game of the season. There is no scouting report."
"We have a lot of good shooters on the team, and if we have an open shot we just take it," added Batavia senior Sami Villarreal, who made three 3-pointers.
The Raiders (0-1) made some adjustments and fought back, cutting the lead to 27-18 at halftime, all the way down to a 44-43 Batavia lead on a Taylor Malone layup with 1:31 left in the fourth quarter.
"They dug themselves a hole," Fonda said of her team, "and the cool part is we dug ourselves out of it. That shows a lot of courage, a lot of stick-with-it. I think our intensity was awesome for 32 minutes. I can't ask for anything more than what they put out there."
But the Bulldogs never let the Raiders took the lead, finally finishing them off with freshman Hannah Frazier's three-point play with 7.7 seconds to go.
"It was a nice start for us," Jensen said. "We just had to hold on for dear life."
"I got a little nervous because I didn't think they should have come back at all and made it that close," Villarreal added.
Both teams are very young. Freshman Hannah Frazier led Batavia with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and classmate Bethany Orman added 10 points, including three 3-pointers. Junior Liza Fruendt added 9 points and 7 rebounds.
But the Bulldogs are still older than the Raiders, who started four sophomores and a junior and played just one senior for limited minutes. Tomei Ball, the veteran among the Raiders' first five scored a game-high 14 points to lead the Raiders back, and added 7 rebounds.
