Geneva finishes regular season a perfect 27-0

Two milestones reached, two left to go.

Taylor Whitley's quest to score the 2,000th point of her illustrious high school career was put on hold for another few days but Geneva's girls basketball team reached a pair of other milestones with its 58-39 victory over host Batavia (21-4, 11-3) Friday night.

Needing 22 points to reach the magic 2,000 mark for her 4-year career, the senior guard tallied a game-high 21 points while helping lead the Vikings to a perfect 27-0 regular-season record and 14-0 Western Sun Conference mark.

"It was a goal to go undefeated in conference but never did I dream that we'd go undefeated the whole year - so far," said Geneva coach Gina Nolan, who has guided the team to three unblemished conference titles (one Suburban Prairie, two Western Sun) over the past four years.

"It's almost hard to fathom and let it all sink in. It's a tribute to the girls and how hard they've worked off-season and in-season."

Geneva wasted little time taking control, hitting 10 of its first 16 shots while grabbing a 23-11 lead after one quarter. Six different players contributed to the Vikings' first-quarter surge, fueled by Whitley's 8 points.

After Batavia's Kelsey Stone scored the first basket of the second quarter to make it 23-13, the Vikings went on an 11-0 run to stretch their lead to 34-13 midway through the period.

Once again, Geneva displayed superior balance during the second-quarter tear as five different players scored, capped by Sammy Scofield's 3-pointer.

"It was definitely good to get the early lead," said Nolan. "But we had a big early lead last Saturday against Bartlett and saw it slip away some so we talked about that (at halftime)."

A 3-pointer by Kara Lydon (9 points) and 3-point play from Natalie Tarter (team-leading 20 points) enabled Batavia to draw within 37-23 with 4:53 left in the third quarter.

But that was as close as the Bulldogs would get.

Junior forward/center Lauren Wicinski, who finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists, scored 9 points during the final 4:01 of the third quarter to help push the Vikings' lead back to 46-28 by quarter's end.

"Lauren's been a force for us on the boards all season but she came to play tonight," said Nolan. "She had a great all-around game."

At that point, the only thing left in doubt was whether Whitley would score her 2,000th career point.

She had a couple chances - the first coming when a 3-point attempt hit the front rim with 1:30 remaining; the second when she split a pair of free throws with 18.8 seconds left.

"Had it been 10 (points) away, we would have never left her out there," Nolan said of her decision to keep Whitley on the court in the final minutes. "She's worked so hard, she deserved it - to be on the floor and have an opportunity in front of so many fans from Geneva to accomplish that.

"She'll get it Wednesday (at the West Chicago regional) and that's fine."

Batavia, which opens regional play at Hinsdale South next Tuesday, connected on just 6 of its 31 first-half field goal attempts.

"I don't know exactly what happened," said Bulldogs coach Tim DeBruycker. "I think we were rushing our shots a little bit and we just didn't have enough people going to the basket."

Geneva, meanwhile, begins postseason play Wednesday at West Chicago against either Glenbard North or the host Wildcats.

"Now our second season starts and that's the one we want to go undefeated in," said Nolan.