Galvan, No. 1 Loyola too much for Batavia
Right before the tip-off of Saturday’s game, Batavia senior point guard Brooke Carlson’s long list of accomplishments turned several heads.
As the public address announcer barked out several of Carlson’s career statistics, several Loyola players glanced at each other in amazement at the impressive and long list.
A few minutes later, another point guard, Loyola junior Aubrey Galvan, started putting on a show of her own in a dominating 32-minute display against the Bulldogs.
Galvan, one of the top juniors in the country, scored a career-high 32 points to lead Loyola to a 59-49 win over Batavia in the 34th annual Coach Derril Kipp’s Hoopfest at Montini.
Galvan shot 12-of-18 from the floor, including 4-of-9 on 3-pointers, to go with three steals, three rebounds and two assists and one stunning block.
“(Brooke) is so talented and super fast and tough,” Galvan said. “I just was going with the flow of the game, and my teammates helped me a lot. The game just came to me today. This was definitely a game we wanted to prove ourselves. It was a good win against one of the top teams in the state.”
Carlson, who ranks first in Batavia program history in assists, second in steals and third in points, struggled finding open looks due to the tough defense by Galvan and Kelsey Langston. Carlson only attempted 12 shots, finishing with 18 points and five assists.
The battle of two of the top point guards in Illinois turned one-sided early in the fourth quarter. Carlson, a Colorado State signee, was hounded all game defensively. Midway through the fourth quarter, Galvan drilled a 3-pointer while falling down to put an exclamation point on her highlight-filled display.
“It was really fun to play against a talent like (her),” Carlson said. “I feel like we played good, but we just came up short. We have to keep going and learn to get better by the end of the season. We have to be smarter with the ball. This was a learning experience for us.”
The Bulldogs (16-5) fell victim to the same issues that plagued them into the Morton College tourney title game loss to Alton. Batavia, which plays Lake Zurich on Monday, scored three points in the second quarter.
Playing in front of her former Deerfield teammate, Montini junior guard Nikki Kerstein, Galvan turned in a mesmerizing show on both ends of the court. She hit two 3-pointers while falling down and even added a thundering second-quarter block off a shot by Batavia 6-foot-1 center Sarah Hecht that led to the ball being slammed hard on the floor.
Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said his team couldn’t slow down the multi-talented Galvan.
“(Aubrey) is an amazing player and amazing shooter,” Jensen said. “It seemed like she couldn’t miss today. She buried a bunch of long contested two-pointers. She had an amazing game and did a great job. (Loyola) was physical with Brooke. She’s so strong and athletic that I think players are allowed to be more physical with her than we are at times with their guards. She did everything she could and got her teammates her teammates some open shots as well.”
The Bulldogs were originally scheduled to play York but had to quickly find a team once the Dukes announced they would not play in the historic event due to weather conditions.
The Ramblers (21-0) lived up to their top-ranked in the Associated Press Class 4A poll, forcing 17 turnovers while racking up 13 steals.
Batavia senior Kylee Gehrt, a Wisconsin-Whitewater recruit, shot 3-of-7 from the field for 10 points and Addie Prewitt chipped in with eight points.
“I thought Kylee played exceptional hard and had a great game,” Jensen said.