Wrap: Burlington can't handle Batavia
Batavia girls basketball fans might not see coach Tim Debruycker employ a 1-3-1 defense anytime soon.
And that will be just fine with Debruycker's players.
Trailing Burlington Central 17-12 after one quarter, Batavia abandon the 1-3-1 Friday night on Rocket Hill in favor of its traditional man-to-man defense. The result was the Bulldogs (18-3) held the host team to just 19 points the rest of the way and ran away with a 60-36 nonconference win.
"It was a nonconference game and we came out in the first quarter with a 1-3-1, which we just put in this week," said Debruycker. "It was kind of obvious we didn't know what we were doing so we just went back to the man after that."
Batavia junior Natalie Tarter, who had a game-high 18 points along with 7 rebounds, was glad to see her coach switch the defense after the first quarter.
"We really didn't like it that much," said Tarter of the 1-3-1. "We didn't have enough time to get used to it."
The numbers were staggering after the first quarter. During the first 8 minutes the Rockets (15-7) were 7 of 16 from the field and had 10 rebounds. During the remainder of the game, they made just 8 of 31 shots and had only 13 rebounds.
"We had a lot of opportunities," said Burlington coach Darlene Guyett. "We had bunnies and we had high percentage shots that just weren't falling tonight. We had five-foot shots that we didn't finish."
Batavia didn't exactly rip the cords off the nets. The Bulldogs were 18 of 48 for the game but with Tarter scoring 13 of her 18 points, they owned the second half.
"We just stepped up and ran our plays," said Tarter, who scored 10 points in the third quarter as the Bulldogs turned a 23-23 halftime deadlock into a 38-27 lead going into the fourth quarter.
"We didn't panic and we ran our game."
The Bulldogs also got 14 points from junior Kelsey Oswald and 12 from junior Kara Lydon. Batavia sealed the win with an 18-for-22 performance at the free-throw line, including an 8 of 8 night from Oswald.
Batavia was also able to get Central in foul trouble as leading scorers Cory Bazany and Melanie Laird each had to sit significant minutes on the bench in the second half with four fouls.
"Getting Bazany and Laird in foul trouble made a difference," DeBruycker said. "When Bazany had to go out, that's when we made our run."
Laird led the Rockets with 12 points while Bazany had 11 and sophomore Jordan Maisto 10.
Girls basketball
Benet Academy 59, Bartlett 49: When Bartlett fell down, Benet refused to let the Hawks get up again, putting on a free-throw shooting clinic to clinch a 59-49 nonconference girls basketball triumph Friday night in Lisle.
"It was a game of runs," Bartlett coach Denise Sarna said. "We kind of fell down in the early part of the game, and we were fighting and scratching the whole game. It was a tough battle."
Bartlett (7-16) scored the first basket of the night, but Benet (11-14) notched the next 7 points and never trailed again, often pushing the margin into double digits and always keeping the Hawks at least 5 points distant.
"We couldn't ever let up or they would have gotten right back in it," Redwings senior Kirstin Stein said.
"It was a fast game, so we just had to realize that we had to slow down a bit and then we played well," Benet senior Inga Milo added. "We all had energy since it was senior night."
But the Redwings won the game where energy helps the least, at the free-throw line. They made 25 of 33.
"Probably the big difference in the game was the free throws," Sarna said. "They got to shoot a lot of free throws and they made them. They did a good job at the line."
Stein led the way, making 9 of 10 free throws, totaling 14 points on the night.
"Stein had an excellent fourth quarter, hit some free throws for us," Benet coach Peter Paul said. "The first thing we'd like for her is to exert the leadership she's capable of, and I thought the fourth quarter today she did. She took care of the basketball for us and helped us win the game."
Nikki Bell led the Redwings with 15 points and Annie Gallagher added 13.
Bartlett freshman Jacki Gulczynski led both teams with 25 points and added 8 rebounds.
"Jackie played a tough game. She did a good job scoring for us tonight," Sarna said. "I'm proud of the kids. I thought they worked real hard."
Each team was without a starter. Becca Cronin missed the game for Bartlett with the flu, and senior Katie Dunn likely will skip the rest of Benet's season with a stress fracture.
-- Orrin Schwarz
Driscoll 52, St. Edward 45: In the Suburban Catholic Conference St. Edward (10-9, 6-5) fell to Driscoll. Katie Yohn led the Green Wave with 19 points. Celeste VonAhnen added 12 for the Green Wave.
Boys basketball
Jacobs 83, Woodstock 59: Jacobs needed a wake-up call in the third quarter Friday night to earn its 17th win.
It came when Woodstock's Cameron Sanchez blocked Conrad Krutwig's layup attempt on one end and finished with his own layup on the other, tying the game at 40 with 6:30 remaining in the third. The Blue Streaks weren't intimidated by Jacobs one bit. They had contained John Moran up until that point, and were shooting 15-for-27 from the field.
The sequence looked to bolster the Blue Streaks, but Moran knew it was time for his team to wake up.
Moran's court vision sparked a 23-2 third quarter run, and Jacobs was rolling. Moran found everyone -- Krutwig, his brother Tim, and Zack Peterson, all for easy baskets, as the Golden Eagles cruised to an 83-59 victory in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball game in Algonquin.
"The third quarter has kind of been our quarter all year. It's not the first time it's happened," said Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle.
"Our team is kind of like a boxer who feels out his opponent for the early rounds, and then goes for it."
And the Golden Eagles (17-2, 3-0) went for it and put the Blue Streaks (9-11, 2-1) on the ropes.
After Woodstock tied it at 40, John Moran found Peterson, who couldn't miss. Peterson scored 14 of his 19 points in the third, including two 3-pointers that put the Golden Eagles up 10 at one point.
John Moran also found Krutwig, who did the dirty work, grabbing every rebound he could. His rebounds were key in that stretch which saw the lead go from 2 to 25 in a matter of minutes.
"Zack, the last two games he's been outstanding, hitting everything," Hinkle said. "And Conrad obviously did a great job on the boards, got to open spots and knocked down his open shots."
"We talked about trying to make sure they didn't get too big of a run in the third. We didn't weather it, and you can't play the run game with them and we tried to," Blue Streaks coach Joe Conrouy said.
Along with his game-high 25 points, Krutwig grabbed 12 boards. Tim Moran added 10 points for the Eagles.
Woodstock stayed in the game until the third, but only hit 8 shots the rest of the way. Jacobs out-rebounded Woodstock 32-20 and forced 17 Blue Streak turnovers.
Sanchez, Derek Brown and Casey Sewall each scored 10 points for Woodstock.
-- Steve Nichols
Westminster Christian 51, Luther North 46: Behind double-digit scoring from Joel Benson, Tyler Beachler and Cory Hodge who each tallied 13 points, Westminster Christian (14-5, 4-2) earned this Private School League victory.
"It was a good win," said coach Bruce Firchau. "We were down at the half, we came back in the fourth quarter, kept attacking the basket and never gave up."
U-High 72, Elgin Academy 44: The Hilltoppers (2-10, 0-8) fell in the Independent School League to U-High. Javon McDonald led for Elgin Academy with 10 points. Senior Joe Kozlowicz also added 9 points.
Girls gymnastics
UEC meet: The South Elgin-Bartlett co-op girls gymnastics team wasn't at its best during Friday night's Upstate Eight Conference meet at Lake Park.
But the team was good enough to claim second place with a score of 137.350. St. Charles co-op proved to be way too much to handle for the six-team field, as the winners had the top three all-around scores and scored 144.275 points.
Caitlin Grega led South-Elgin-Bartlett as she finished fourth in all-around with a 35.775. She also earned third place on beam (9.15).
Christine Bailye won the floor exercise with a 9.45 and Emily Potts finished fourth on vault (9.3).
South Elgin-Bartlett had been steadily increasing its scores throughout the season, but that trend came to an end on Friday.
"We dropped a little bit from where we've been," coach Kathy Blahata said. "We tried to work in some new skills to evaluate where we're at and we'll be here again (next Thursday) for regionals, so while this meet was important, it also was a time to try some things."
South Elgin-Bartlett only scored a 33.1 on bars, which was the second-to-last in the meet.
Elgin-Larkin co-op finished in sixth place with 115.475 points.
Andrea Vercelli led the team with an all-around total of 31.625.
-- Chris Walker
Men's basketball
Judson improves to 5-0 in CCAC play: Trailing by six with 10 minutes left to play, Judson (12-6, 5-0) battled back to defeat Calumet College 82-71 late Wednesday night behind a 20-7 run. Dewayne Robinson led all scorers with 28 points, scoring 20 in the second half. Steffan Williams (19 points), Ilija Bojanic (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Joe Gonnam (10 points) contributed to the winning effort.
Notes
Crusader Youth Football Registration: The St. Edward Crusaders will be holding their Youth Football registration today at the Elgin Recreation Center from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
New in 2008 will be a 7-8 year old Bantam division. Other divisions go up to eighth grade. All divisions have rules to allow bigger kids to play with kids their own age.
Bantam level is just $85 and all other levels are $150 today only. Registration will go up to $225 per player at future registrations. Visit www.crusaderyouthfootball.com for more information.