Batavia bounces back
After giving up a season-high point total in a 58-55 loss to Sycamore one night earlier, Batavia's girls basketball team waited less than 24 hours for a shot at redemption.
That may have served as the motivating force behind the Bulldogs' 43-34 nonconference triumph over St. Charles East (12-10) Tuesday night in St. Charles.
"I thought we came out tonight with a little more intensity," said Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker. "We just didn't come ready to play (vs. Sycamore). Giving up 58 points was not something we liked. It's not something we want to do night in and night out."
St. Charles East connected on 3 of its first 4 shots, capped by Tasha Lalos' 3-pointer from the corner, to take a 7-2 lead and still clung to a 12-8 advantage after the opening quarter.
But the Saints suddenly got cold in the second quarter, managing just 1 basket - a layup from Jaime Rust that gave the home team an 18-16 lead with 43 seconds left before halftime.
However, it was Batavia (18-3) that carried the momentum and a 19-18 lead into the locker room at the intermission after Kara Lydon's 30-foot desperation heave fell through the net as the buzzer sounded.
"It made me so mad because I was trying to make my 3s earlier in the game and then I chucked that one up and it went in," said Lydon, who tied teammate Natalie Tarter for game-high honors with 11 points. "I don't even know how it went in but it did."
Lydon's buzzer-beater helped ignite a 21-4 surge that propelled the Bulldogs to a 37-22 lead early in the fourth quarter, providing more than enough cushion against the cold-shooting Saints.
St. Charles East, which was held to just one field goal during a 12-minute span midway through the game, was outscored 24-10 during the middle two quarters.
"We've struggled with that this year," Saints coach Lori Drumtra said of her team's long offensive droughts. "We just couldn't get anything to drop.
"We talked about it at halftime and were saying, 'Don't let this happen, come out hard, come out strong.'"
And then St. Charles East came out and made just one third-quarter field goal while committing 6 turnovers.
"It's everybody - it's not just one player," said Drumtra of her team's shooting woes. "It's contagious."
Tarter scored 7 of Batavia's 11 fourth-quarter points while Norville added 8 points, Becca Heimsath had 4 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, and point guard Sara Fruendt grabbed a game-high 9 rebounds.
"We just did a good job overall," said DeBruycker. "It wasn't really one person who had a great game but there were a lot of people who had solid games."
Steph Roan led the Saints with 10 points.