Geneva's bench shines at Batavia
As if Margaret Whitley, Stephanie Hart, Grace Loberg and company weren't enough to give opponents nightmares, Geneva unleashed a new weapon Friday night at Batavia.
The Vikings debuted another sophomore, Bri Borkowicz, who has been out four weeks with a hairline fracture in her kneecap.
It was like a secret weapon that Batavia had no answer for. Borkowicz scored 8 straight points to open the second quarter, giving Geneva a double-digit lead it never relinquished on the way to an impressive 59-39 drubbing of a Batavia team that entered the game on a 10-game winning streak.
Borkowicz finished with 12 points — second only to Whitley's 13 — as nine Vikings scored. Geneva's bench outscored Batavia's 28-11.
“Bri is very good but to be able to play like that as a sophomore in this environment?” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “Really impressive.”
Geneva (7-1, 3-0 in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division) led 9-6 after the first quarter, then quickly blitzed Batavia with a 10-2 run in the first 1:48 of the second quarter to make it 19-8. Borkowicz connected on a pair of 3s and hit another long jumper in that stretch.
“I've been trying to look for my shot a lot more and my teammates really helped me to get open a lot,” Borkowicz said. “I was really nervous for today's game being my first varsity game but I think I was mentally prepared for the atmosphere and everything. I was nervous before but once I started playing my head was in the game and I just played.”
It quickly went from bad to worse for Batavia (11-2, 2-1) when senior center Hannah Frazier was whistled for her second foul. She went to the bench for the final 6 minutes of the second quarter, and the Vikings increased their lead from 11 points to 35-16 at halftime, capped by one of Whitley's three 3-pointers just before the buzzer.
Geneva took its biggest lead 47-22 late in the third quarter. Another reserve, Taylor Williams, scored 4 of her 6 points in the second half.
The Vikings only committed 3 turnovers in the second and third quarters while outscoring the Bulldogs 40-19.
“Since Monday we've been practicing really hard to play against what their strengths are this year and I think we really pulled through,” Hart said. “We focused a lot on their press.”
Batavia didn't quit and finally forced some Geneva mistakes in the fourth quarter. Frazier scored 9 straight points to get her team as close as 50-35 before Whitley drove and dished to Loberg to end Batavia's run.
Frazier led Batavia with 19 points and 10 rebounds, though the Bulldogs lost the rebounding battle 39-26. Geneva also hit 16 of 23 free throws to Batavia's 3 of 6.
“They (Geneva) were very good tonight,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. “The lights were a little bright for us tonight. We have played some big games already this year against some really tough opponents but it's different playing on the road at Trinity without friends and families and amped up because it's our rival.”
Loberg and Hart each added 8 points for Geneva. Loberg grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked 3 shots.
“We knew Batavia was good. They are playing extremely well,” Meadows said. “We all knew this was going to be our first real test. We talked about that all week. The girls responded. They put in work this week and it showed.”