Split decision: Geneva girls, Batavia boys come out on top on rivalry night in Geneva

Whatever Geneva needs from Leah Palmer on the basketball floor, she’s ready to deliver it.

Palmer, the Geneva senior, scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to ensure a gritty 52-44 win over Batavia on Friday.

A key third of the trio that powered Geneva to fourth place in the state last season alongside Lauren Slagle and Cass Arni, Palmer is now firmly the Vikings’ leader in every fashion on the floor.

“Embracing that role, I feel like I’ve grown as a player a ton so far already,” Palmer said. “I’m learning so many different things – how to facilitate the ball, pass the ball, be a better ball-handler and also score at different levels so it just overall makes me a better player.”

Scoring 30 points is one thing. Providing essential defense, getting key rebounds and taking care of critical free throws down the stretch adds to her resumè as a dominant force for the Vikings.

“I feel like when I start hustling, that’s when I play my best,” Palmer continued. “The points will always come, but when I hustle and get those rebounds, I can get those easy put backs and it helps with the scoring a ton.”

Batavia coach Kevin Jensen sees Palmer as a “more of a complete player now”.

“Before, it was somebody – even though she would do some of these same things – she was mainly looking for her shot [in previous seasons]. A little bit more from the perimeter because she had a couple more inside,” Jensen said. “Now, it’s whatever her teams needs, she’s going to do...Rebounds the heck out of the ball. If we keep her off the glass, just her alone, there’s a difference-maker [in the game].”

The Vikings led by 12 midway through the third quarter, but a 10-0 Batavia run fueled by two Hallie Crane 3-pointers helped close the gap to 32-29 with 1:47 left. Palmer hit two free throws, which was answered by Batavia’s Brooke Carlson on a layup. Caroline Madden sunk a 3-pointer for Geneva to take the 37-31 lead into the fourth quarter.

Palmer hit a 3-pointer with 2:15 remaining to give Geneva some breathing room at 45-39. Kylee Gehrt and Carlson combined for three free throws for Batavia, but Palmer assisted on a crucial 3-pointer to counter. Carlson, again, kept Batavia alive with a layup, but Palmer saved her best for last.

Palmer split two free throws with just under a minute left, corralled a crucial rebound on a barrage of Batavia misses and then hit the final two free throws to ice the game.

“I’ll say that our two words this week and tonight were ‘toughness and composure’,” Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. “I felt like if we could do those two things, we were going to be OK and I think all of our kids played super tough, we rebounded the heck out the ball; we had to do that. We handled their pressure and they thrive off of defense. If we could be composed, that would set us apart.”

“That last timeout, we just said ‘ it’s all about composure’,” Meadows continued. “And, then, she knocked down the free throws and got the rebounds...She wants it badly. It’s just for these kids because they’ve played forever together. They’re best friends and it’s fun.”

Geneva (7-3, 4-0) was also paced by Kinsey Gracey’s nine points and three rebounds, while Madden had six points and four rebounds.

Batavia (9-2, 3-1), meanwhile, was led by Carlson’s 20 points. Addie Prewitt added six points, while Addi Lowe followed up with six points as well.

“...Defensively, there was parts where we shined and parts where we didn’t do enough on their best player [Palmer],” Jensen said. “Once again, we worked really, really hard at it but they are just so relentless on the glass and first-second-third efforts to get every loose ball that they can. Even with a tough shooting night because they were playing so well defensively. We’re right there if we can isolate a couple more of their rebounds.”

Boys game: Kyle Porter was quick to deflect credit of his own successes to the team.

After pouring in 18 points in Batavia’s 50-30 win over Geneva on Friday, Porter and the Bulldogs are rolling at 7-2 and now 3-1 in the DuKane Conference.

“It’s not even me. It’s the whole team,” the Batavia senior said. “We’re all one unit and we’re playing well together. We’re all flowing together really well.”

The ‘why’, in part, stems from the collective experience in the starting lineup with Nate Nazos, Jacob Aseltine and CJ Valente leading the charge.

“I just think we have great practices. I mean, this is a team we’ve been [playing with] our whole loves. We have great team chemistry,” Porter continued.

“I think [the success] is a lot to do with experience,” Nate Nazos said. “We’ve got 14 seniors on this team and we’re all best friends. We’ve been playing together since we were elementary school. We all just stuck with it.”

Nazos has seen Porter’s growth as a player up close.

“He’s improved tremendously from last year. It’s been great to see,” Nazos said. “I think he’s always had the talent there and he grew a lot over high school. He’s gotten used to his body and he got really athletic. He got in the weight room and everything. He’s worked in the offseason [being smooth] in the post. He’s got a decent shot from 10 feet and he’s worked on it. I’m happy for him.”

Batavia led 39-21 to close the third quarter and kept its foot on the gas. Porter and Geneva guard Elliott Kroeyr traded layups. The Vikings added another layup, but Porter had the answer with another layup. Geneva forward Hudson Kirby split two free throws, but Batavia forward CJ Valente’s dunk put the exclamation point with four minutes remaining on Batavia’s sound team win.

“...For the most part, I think we did some pretty good things defensively,” Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. “They had some things they probably don’t like in there, but still overall, it was pretty good. They were feeling good going into the half...I think it’s a really good win against a good team at their place in a rivalry game.”

Kirby led Geneva (4-5, 0-4) with eight points and six rebounds on a slow offensive night.

“No [Jack] Hatton tonight. He got banged up in the Glenbard North game and he’s one of our leading scorers,” Geneva coach Scott Hennig said. “We didn’t shoot well. I think we were 26% at the free throw line or something ridiculous. You’re not going to beat Batavia missing double digit free throws or whatever it was. We’ve got to play better. I’ve got to do better. [On Batavia], they’re good. They’re big. They got a lot of experience. I think Nate Nazos is a wonderful, wonderful player.”