Batavia beats Elgin, now over .500
It is full steam ahead for Batavia’s girls basketball team these days.
For the first time in 7 weeks, the Bulldogs (10-9, 4-3) climbed above the .500 mark with Thursday night’s 69-31 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over visiting Elgin (1-18, 1-5).
Sophomore Liza Fruendt scored a game-high 20 points, while Kaytlin St. Clair and Mariah Zwart added 11 points apiece, as the Bulldogs extended their winning streak to a season-best 3 games.
“The big thing was that I didn’t want to have any steps backward,” said Batavia coach Kevin Jensen. “We talked about the start of the game that we needed to win the first three minutes and win them big. We kind of said the same thing after halftime.”
The Bulldogs heeded their coach’s advice, grabbing a 10-0 lead in the opening minute before the Maroons were even able to attempt a shot.
St. Clair got things rolling with a 3-point play off an inbounds pass from Michaela Strehlau, while Miranda Grizaffi canned a 3-pointer and Fruendt capped the early surge with a steal and layup.
Batavia led 26-13 after the first quarter, as Zwart came off the bench to score 7 points on perfect 3-of-3 shooting from the floor.
The Bulldogs stretched their lead to 39-21 at halftime before a pair of St. Clair buckets ignited an 8-0 run during the first 2 minutes of the third quarter that made it 47-21.
Batavia outscored Elgin 22-7 during the first 3 minutes of each half.
“It was nice,” said Jensen. “We needed one of these. It kind of got us over the hump where we’re above .500 overall and above 500 in conference. It’s the first time we’ve been above .500 in conference and we haven’t been above .500 overall since December 1 (at 4-3).”
Heather Anderson (7 points), Paige Zochert (6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocked shots), and Sami Villarreal (9 rebounds) helped the Bulldogs’ bench outscore Elgin’s reserves, 30-1.
“It’s not just a matter of them deserving to play but they’re capable of being out there and doing good things,” said Jensen.
St. Clair added 7 of the Bulldogs’ 23 steals.
“We really came into this game wanting to keep our streak going,” said St. Clair. “Now that we have the ball rolling, I think we’re going to keep going.”
Senior center Briana Hamilton paced Elgin with 18 points and 16 rebounds.
“She had 61 points and 28 rebounds in her previous two games,” Jensen said of the Maroons’ 6-footer. “I don’t care who you’re playing, that’s productive. I think we gave up a couple extra buckets because we gave her so much attention but that’s fine because she needs to be stopped. It turned out well.”
Hamilton, who hit 4 of her first 5 shots, had 13 points and 8 rebounds at halftime.
“She’s doing a great job,” Elgin coach Nick Bumbales said of Hamilton. “She’s doing everything she can to try and help us out. She’s got the team on her back.”
Weather permitting, Batavia visits Larkin tonight.
“Hopefully everything holds off because we’re playing well and I just want to keep going,” said Jensen.