Batavia pays back St. Charles E.
Batavia’s Revenge Week is complete.
With a 57-45 victory at St. Charles East Friday night, the Bulldogs got even with the same Saints team that had defeated them last month in Batavia — just as Batavia did earlier this week by beating St. Charles North to avenge an earlier loss to the North Stars.
“That was the goal,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. “Whether you want to call it revenge or payback or whatever. It’s a motivation. The girls all know each other.”
Batavia (9-9, 3-3) had a little extra incentive for St. Charles East (11-10, 4-4) beyond the earlier loss.
That first meeting also was the game that starting center Erin Bayram went down with a season-ending knee injury. Winning one for their sophomore teammate was on everyone’s minds Friday.
“Tonight we really wanted to do it for Erin,” Batavia guard Liza Fruendt said. “We came out strong and had a tight chemistry and bond together and something has clicked and is working well together. We’re on a roll.
“Going around twice (in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division) especially both St. Charles schools in one week really helped us getting fired up and we don’t want to lose to them again.”
Batavia’s offense got better in each quarter Friday, starting with 9 points in the first to 13 in the second, 16 in the third and 19 in the fourth.
It was the Saints who overcame an early 5-point deficit to grab a 12-9 lead after one quarter when Amanda Hilton drove and passed out to Carly Pottle for a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
The drive-and-kicks continued in the second quarter, only those plays were being turned in more often by Fruendt finding her best friend Miranda Grizaffi. With St. Charles East holding what turned out to be its biggest lead of the game at 17-11, Grizaffi buried back-to-back 3s on assists from Fruendt to tie the game at 17.
Grizaffi returned the favor just before halftime when she passed to Fruendt for a 3 that gave Batavia a 22-19 halftime lead and concluded an 11-2 run to end the half.
The Saints tied the game just once in the second half at 25 on Morgan Vyzral’s free throw that followed a Hilton 3. Tamar Norville came alive midway through the third quarter with 7 straight points to put Batavia ahead to stay.
First Norville rebounded her own miss and scored. She added another inside bucket before stepping back behind the top of the key for a 3 that made it 32-25.
“The 3-pointer was quite awesome but I love rebounding and playing defense so much. It was just a great all-around game,” said Norville who finished with 9 points and a game-high 10 rebounds as Batavia played its second straight game without Katie Ryan.
“We lost a lot of height (without Ryan and Bayram),” Norville said. “I’m a 5-7, really a 5-6 kind of girl, I have to learn how to get out there and be strong and I tried to rip down as many rebounds as I can to help my team.”
Batavia led 38-34 going to the fourth quarter. After Grizaffi opened the quarter with a stickback the Saints never got closer than 5 points.
Junior Grace Andrews gave Batavia a spark when Jensen rested his starters with a blocked shot, a steal, a basket and a free throw. Jensen credited a JV game this week with helping his bench get in a rhythm.
“She (Andrews) played outstanding,” Jensen said. “She got her hands on a lot of loose basketballs. When she was able to take it to the basket she drew a foul. She gave us a great spark.”
Fruendt led all scorers with 18 points to go with 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Grizaffi added 13 points and Michaela Strehlau 8.
“I thought Batavia was clicking,” Saints coach Lori Drumtra said. “That is a much improved team than what we saw.”
Paige Jordan led the Saints with 16 points, Vyzral added 12 and Pottle chipped in 7 off the bench. Hilton paced the defense with 4 steals but scored 4 points after tallying 21 in the first meeting with Batavia.
After winning five straight games heading into the week, the Saints dropped consecutive conference games to teams they beat (Streamwood and Batavia) by a combined 34 points in December.
“We were suffering tonight what they were the first game,” Drumtra said. “Just struggling. We’re having a problem working as a unit, making good decisions. I sound like a broken record but I don’t think we’re taking advantage of some of the opportunities that are there.
“Right now we’re just not playing that well. We need to get out of that funk pretty quickly.”