Rettig leads the way for Rosary, Batavia falls to Minooka

In the first two games of the Oswego Holiday Classic, Jordan Rettig, a sophomore on the Rosary basketball team, has put on an impressive display.

In the first game, a win against Batavia, she tallied 19 points. In the second game Monday, in Rosary's 55-39 win over Geneva, she scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

"We thought we could use her strength inside," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "She's playing really well. When we get her the ball, she is hard to stop."

"We really worked the ball well," Rettig added. "I just tried to power it up and finish my layups. For the most part, we were hitting our outside shots also. I think we worked really well together today."

Rettig did a little damage in each quarter against Geneva, which only led once -- in the first quarter 8-7 after a bucket from Olivia Laster at the 2:08 mark.

From there, Rosary (10-4) went on a 10-0 run to end the first and begin the second quarter. The Royals used that run, maintained the lead and was earned a 25-16 advantage at the break.

Geneva, however, went on a 9-0 run at the start of the third to get back in the game. After the run was complete, the Vikings slashed the Royals' lead to 27-26 after a pair of free throws from Lauren Wicinski with 4:30 left in the quarter.

The closest the Vikings (10-2) could come to the Royals was 32-30 with less than a minute left in the third after another free throw from Wicinski.

The Royals, however, scored the next 6 points, which was part of a 12-2 run, and got their lead up to double-digits for the first time with a little more than five minutes remaining in the game.

"We made it a game for a while in the third quarter," Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. "But next thing, I look up and we are down by 12. It was like, 'Where did that come from?' They played a very good all-around game. We had chances -- we missed a lot of 2-footers -- but I don't know how much of a difference that would have made in the game. They have a nice inside-outside game, and we didn't match it."

In addition to Rettig, Rosary was led by Faith Jones (12 points, 5 rebounds) and Victoria Alvarez (10 points, 7 rebounds, 8 steals).

Wicinski finished with 15 points and 20 rebounds off the bench as the only player for the Vikings to reach double figures in either category.

"That's awesome," Nolan said of her sophomore reserve. "She worked her tail off out there."

Minooka 52, Batavia 40: Fortunately for Kelsey Oswald, the junior on the Batavia girls basketball team, she posted a career-high of 15 points.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Oswald's performance was in a losing effort, as Batavia fell to Minooka 52-40 at the Oswego Holiday Classic on Monday.

"I think our best player on the court was Kelsey Oswald off the bench," Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker said. "She was great. She's been doing a great job coming off the bench and giving us a spark ... but no one helped her out. It was pretty much just her."

Batavia (8-2) started the game off by scoring the first 8 points, with contributions from three players.

"We came out on fire," DeBruycker said.

Batavia held its lead for most of the second half until Minooka took its first lead of the game at 21-20 after a 3-pointer from Niyah Wakefield with 1:21 left in the first half as part of an 8-0 run. By the break, the game was tied at 23-23, thanks to a conventional 3-point play from Natalie Tarter.

The Indians began the second half on a 6-0 run and never let their lead slip away. Batavia remained within striking distance, remaining in a single-digit deficit, but could never catch up.

Minooka let its lead grow to double digits late in the fourth quarter and iced the game with free throws.

"We were having a rough time, and weren't playing as a team," Oswald said.

In addition to Oswald, the Bulldogs, who entered the tournament undefeated, were led by Tarter's 11 points and 8 rebounds.

"Tonight was unacceptable," DeBruycker said. "You can't have a game like this ... We just didn't execute."

"We really wanted to come out and play well," Oswald added. "We don't know what happened."

The Bulldogs are taking the day off today, followed by practice Wednesday and Thursday before taking on rival Geneva on Friday night.

"We are going to try and come ready to play for Geneva," DeBruycker said.