Batavia tops Naperville North

With some Big Ten coaches in town to watch, Naperville North standout freshman Greta Kampschroeder did not disappoint, even if she couldn't help deliver a Huskies win.

The talented newcomer scored four early baskets on a variety of moves as the Huskies took a quick 12-2 lead on Batavia at the Benet/Naperville North Holiday Tournament. The 6-footer opened the game's scoring with a turnaround jumper and then followed with a spinning floater, a jumper from the free-throw line and a baseline drive.

Kampschroeder finished the night with a game-high 19 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. But it was the Bulldogs who left victorious as Batavia rallied late for a 45-37 win.

"We just sort of settled in. They've been pretty good and fighting through stuff and we kept at it," said Batavia coach Kevin Jensen, whose team used a 19-9 fourth-quarter charge to improve to 7-4 on the year. "We just kept battling and we knocked down some big shots at the end it was awesome."

In the stands on Wednesday were scouts and coaches from Iowa, Indiana and Purdue, and they had to like what they saw from Kampschroeder, who had 9 of her team's 16 field goals.

But the 4-5 Huskies have dropped their share of tight contests as the team seems to get down or too tight at times with the game on the line.

"It's definitely mental," Kampschroeder said. "We can't let the success of our opponent bring us down. We just weren't enjoying ourselves. We just need to go have fun and remember that it's a game. The JV team is the one inspiring us. They're having fun and when they're down they just come back. They don't get down. We have to have belief. We need that mindset."

The Bulldogs picked up some timely 3-pointers and a solid all-around effort from sophomore guard Erin Golden, who tallied 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals. She made all six of her free throws in the second half as Batavia went 12 for 14 from the line for the game. Hailey Orman, meanwhile rolled in a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the first quarter and added another from beyond the arc in the third quarter.

"We started hitting our shots a lot more and looking for the better ones," Golden said, explaining how her team worked out of a 12-5 deficit after one quarter. "When they started to press us we broke it really well where we'd have the good cutter going down. And then Geddy Rerko's 3-pointer really helped us. That gave us a big breather."

Leading just 37-33 with 1:38 left to play, Rerko connected on that huge 3-pointer for her only basket of the night.

"That shot, making it from 4 to 7, to me that's when I felt like we had the game. We were pumped for that there," said Jensen, who also credited Rerko's defense on Kampschroeder in the second half for making an impact. "A lot of the second half we put Geddy on her and she played some outstanding defense on a girl that had 3-4 Big Ten coaches watching her. She's going to be a phenomenal player for years."