Doody, Neuqua Valley stifle Batavia
Megan Doody's Christmas break just got a lot better.
Doody, Neuqua Valley's sophomore point guard, found her shot from beyond the 3-point arc Saturday against Batavia. She drained four of them and the Wildcats' defense did the rest in a 53-34 victory in the fifth-place game at the Oswego Holiday Classic.
After a 1-9 start, Saturday's win gave Neuqua Valley (4-9) its third victory in as many days.
"It feels great," Doody said. "We had a tough streak of not playing so well but we toughed it out and we're doing better. We're going into Christmas feeling good."
Doody's first 3-pointer gave the Wildcats their first lead, 7-6, after Kelsey Stone and Sara Fruendt's early baskets staked Batavia (5-6) to a 4-0 lead.
Doody's next two 3-pointers came in the second quarter when the Wildcats started to widen their lead, which stood at 25-17 at halftime.
Wildcats coach Mike Williams said Doody's hot shooting came from taking a slower, simplified approach.
"She's been struggling the last few games and trying to find herself," Williams said. "We told her to focus on one or two things. I thought it slowed her down and she got her rhythm and she shot the ball well. She had one rushed shot and that was it but typically she has been rushing three or four shots."
Neuqua Valley's defense took over in the second half. Batavia didn't hit any of its 9 field goal attempts in the third quarter as the game steadily got out of hand for the Bulldogs.
"We went in the locker room and talked about how we needed to step up our defense," Doody said. "First half we weren't showing what we could do. Second half on defense we were talking more and got some steals."
Fruendt, Stone and Bre Choffin all split free throws in the third quarter to account for Batavia's 3 points. The Bulldogs defense held the Wildcats scoreless for four minutes before Neuqua Valley eventually started scoring again. By the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter the Wildcats had doubled Batavia's score at 40-20.
"You can't score 3 points on 3 free throws," Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker said. "The good news is we held them scoreless for four minutes but then they started hitting their shots. We just didn't execute offensively in the third quarter."
Doody was the only player on either team to finish in double figure scoring with 12. Williams got contributions from nearly everyone he played, with 11 different Wildcats scoring at least 2 points. Bria Williams gave Batavia fits in the paint with 8 points and 8 rebounds.
Sara Fruendt led Batavia with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. The senior made the all-tournament team despite battling a cold all week. Stone and Sami Villareal both added 7 points, and DeBruycker said Hannah Schweigert's play was a bright spot in the tournament.
DeBruycker said Batavia's best performance in its four games at Oswego came Thursday against the host Panthers, when the Bulldogs were within 1 point through three quarters before losing by 8.
"Oswego, that was the best three quarters we've played, maybe three and a half," DeBruycker said. "We made them earn the win. That's what we want to be is be the tough out that night but then we turn around and not play the way we wanted to tonight."