Geneva throttles Batavia

Twelve days seemed like an eternity for the Geneva girls basketball team.

That’s how long the Vikings had to wait to erase the bad taste of their surprising 3-loss showing at the Benet/Naperville North Holiday Tournament.

Batavia played Geneva close for a quarter Wednesday night but after that it was all Vikings. Their trademark full-court pressure forced 16 of Batavia’s 26 turnovers in the first half on their way to a 50-27 victory.

Geneva (12-3, 3-0) snapped a 2-game losing streak while playing like the team that started the year 10-0 before losing to Benet, Naperville North and DeKalb.

“We were all ready to pick it back up and work our hardest and show we are a good team and that we came to play tonight,” said senior guard Rachel Hinchman who scored a game-high 15 points. “Everyone on the team hustled real hard. No one let up at all. It just showed what we can do.”

Geneva coach Sarah Meadows credited the better play to her team’s effort.

“That is what we are used to playing,” Meadows said. “We have to continue doing that. We played hard, we were on the floor, chasing after loose basketballs. We hadn’t been doing that. It was good to see.”

If one play summed up that hustle it came from sophomore Michaela Loebel who deflected a Batavia pass. The ball appeared to be going out of bounds under the Bulldogs’ basket. But Loebel raced to chase down the ball, leapt while falling out of bounds and in one motion passed back to Hinchman who scored and drew a foul.

“That was just a great play by her and helped us a lot,” Hinchman said. “That was a great spark too and got us going.”

“I just thought try to keep the ball in and luckily Rachel was right there,” Loebel said. “It kind of worked out. Just kind of reacted. During the game I don’t really think I react.”

Like Hinchman, Loebel said she was looking forward to getting back on the court.

“My mindset was to come back stronger because some teams could fall apart after a little rough patch but I think we definitely came back stronger,” Loebel said.

Batavia (7-9, 1-3) played without leading scorer Liza Fruendt who dislocated her pinkie at Oswego East on Tuesday night.

Katie Ryan scored Batavia’s first 9 points, and the Bulldogs led throughout almost the entire first quarter. Ryan’s final basket came on a backdoor cut on an assist from Michaela Strehlau.

Kaytlin St. Clair found Mariah Zwart for a fastbreak basket that tied the game for the final time at 11. Sami Pawlak’s inside move in the closing seconds of the quarter put Geneva up 13-11.

The Vikings outscored Batavia 14-5 in the second quarter to take control. Hinchman hit a 3 and scored 7 of the points, but it was Geneva’s defense and hustle to loose balls that made life miserable for Batavia.

Nobody hit the floor more than Marquette-bound senior Ashley Santos (12 points), and Meadows said that lifts everyone’s play when the team’s best player sets the tone.

“She was ready to play tonight,” Meadows said. “She is a leader by example. When she plays like that I think everybody else gets up and is ready to follow her lead. She has to continue to do that every game.”

Leading 27-16 at halftime, Geneva held Batavia to 1 field goal in the third quarter to go up 39-20. Both teams rested their starters for much of the fourth quarter.

Pawlak joined Hinchman and Santos in double figures with 11 points while also adding 10 rebounds and 4 steals.

“We moved the ball a lot better tonight,” Meadows said. “We’re using everybody. We’re passing. We’re working together.

“Maybe we needed the break. I know it’s a long season. But we have been talking about from now until hopefully March we have to get better. We can’t have setbacks like we did before Christmas break. We were ready to play. They were hungry.”

Batavia coach Kevin Jensen also found some bright spots especially early in the game.

“We had some real good energy to start and that should happen when it’s Batavia and Geneva whatever sport whatever time of year,” Jensen said. “I was pretty pleased with that. We couldn’t keep it going as long as we wanted. We didn’t have enough in us all the way through.”

Ryan provided nearly half Batavia’s offense with 13 points and Zwart added 4.

“She plays so hard,” Jensen said of Ryan. “She gets her hand on almost every rebound. We just have to find ways to get her the ball. She’s proven to be a pretty decent free-throw shooter. She has gotten to the line a lot. She has come into her own without (injured center) Erin (Bayram) being there. That has been huge for us.”

Jensen seemed hopeful that Fruendt won’t be out much longer.

“If you asked her she would have said she could have played tonight but we are going to wait on that and touch base with a doctor and make sure she can’t do any more damage to it,” Jensen said.