Barnes' well-being takes precedence for Batavia

When Sara Fruendt saw her best friend lying on the court in agony Monday night at the Class 4A St. Charles North regional, her immediate reaction was to run over and see what was wrong.

Her next reaction was shock. When Fruendt saw Liz Barnes' right knee in such bad condition she had to walk away.

"Words can't describe it," Fruendt said. "She had a scream of pain and I knew right there."

Barnes' injury with 2:58 left in the first quarter of Batavia's 60-42 loss to South Elgin overshadowed the game itself for the Bulldogs, trying to play their best while knowing their teamate was seriously injured.

"We wanted to go as hard as we could for regional and for Liz," Fruendt said. "It was hard to refocus but I think we came out as good as we could."

Barnes fell to the floor along the baseline while Batavia was running its offense. South Elgin coach Tom Prendergast said it looked to him like Barnes might have stepped on someone's foot or had someone step on her foot.

It was obvious immediately from Barnes' reaction the injury was much worse than a sprained ankle or other more common basketball injuries. Paramedics arrived to take Barnes to a hospital.

"It looked like a dislocated knee or kneecap, one of the two," Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker said. "It was hard to tell. She stayed conscious, she was just in a lot of pain. They (the paramedics) had to stabilize that (knee) before they could move her."

DeBruycker said he was unsure which hospital Barnes went to. Barnes, a key contributor off the bench as a junior last year who stepped into a starting role this season, was averaging about 8 points a game, second on the team.

After about 30 minutes Barnes was placed on a stretcher and taken to the ambulance. Before she left the gymnasium, her Batavia teammates came over to show their support, then the South Elgin players did too.

"It was really unfortunate," Prendergast said. "You never want to see that whether it is somebody on your team or the other team. I don't know if it took some steam out of them but everything was just deflated after that."

DeBruycker tried to get his team to refocus but it obviously wasn't easy. Tied 6-6 at the time, the Storm quickly took control and led the rest of the game.

"I told them we have to focus and Liz would want us to play the game," DeBruycker said. "Don't worry about her, she's in good hands, she's going to see doctors who do this all the time. There's nothing you can do to help her right now. We just have to focus on the game and see what we can do.

"Obviously losing a senior right in the first quarter is emotionally tough but we had to fight through it. I really hope Liz is OK."