Geneva dominates Batavia with defense

When you play tough man-to-man defense and hit the boards with a purpose, you can overcome a lot of things.

Despite hitting just 39 percent of its field-goal attempts and 5-of-13 free throws while committing 18 turnovers, Geneva's girls basketball team emerged with a convincing 43-22 Western Sun Conference victory over rival Batavia Saturday night in Batavia.

Thanks to a workmanlike effort keyed by Kat Yelle's 13 points and 5 steals, and 8 points and a game-high 17 rebounds from senior forward Lauren Wicinski, the Vikings pocketed their 15th consecutive victory while improving to 5-0 in conference.

"I thought we got some great looks at the basket and penetrated the zone (defense) really well," said Vikings coach Gina Nolan. "But it was a struggle to finish."

An 11-day layoff may not have helped the Vikings who were held to a season-low offensive output.

"It might have been because of the layoff and a little tired legs in the second half," added Nolan, "but any time you can come into Batavia and get a win, it's a good night."

After a baseline jumper by Maddie Sychta (6 points, 6 rebounds) helped the Bulldogs (5-7, 2-3) cut the deficit to 10-8 late in the opening quarter, the Vikings went on a 14-0 surge to take control. Wicinski and Kat Yelle combined for 8 points during the run that helped contribute to Geneva's 24-11 halftime advantage.

Batavia scored the first 5 points of the second half to pull within 24-16 with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter but was unable to draw any closer as a pair of late baskets by reserve guard Sam Dudman (6 points) upped the Vikings' lead to 31-16 heading into the final quarter.

While shooting just 19 percent from the field (9-for-49), the Bulldogs also squandered opportunities at the free-throw line where they made just 2 of 10 attempts, including 1 of 6 in the third quarter.

"If we could have just come over the hump and made a couple shots there, maybe we give them a scare," said Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker. "But other than that truthfully we never were in the game.

"You can't score 22 points in a varsity-level game and win - yet alone against a team that was 14-0 coming in. You can't compete against .500 teams when you score 22 points in a game."

According to DeBruycker, the most disappointing aspect was the fact he felt his team was ready to play.

"We hadn't played for two weeks but we practiced hard all week and I actually thought the practices went well," said the coach. "But there's no way we could have expected to stay in this game tonight with that kind of offensive performance."

Ashley Santos added 10 points and 3 steals for the Vikings, who earned a 44-35 rebounding edge while holding an opponent below 30 points for the fourth time in 15 contests.

"We worked hard this morning at the shootaround defending some of their plays," said Wicinski. "We knew what they were going to do and knew exactly how we were going to guard them."