Geneva 43, DeKalb 19

So much for a thank-you card from the Geneva girls basketball team.

Nine days after DeKalb defeated the Vikings' archrival, Batavia, for a Western Sun Conference supremacy deadlock, Geneva (20-5, 12-1) showed little mercy in the opener of a girls-boys doubleheader Monday night in DeKalb.

Limiting the Barbs to lone field goals in the first and third quarters, Geneva never trailed in a 43-19 victory.

The Vikings meet Batavia for a winner-take-all finale Friday in Geneva.

DeKalb is 10-16 overall, 8-4 in league play.

Rescheduled after inclement weather Thursday, the Barbs (10-16, 8-4) were snowed under from the start.

Emily Hinchman and Taylor Whitley, who nearly outscored DeKalb individually with game-high efforts of 15 points, triggered the Vikings' onslaught.

"We just put a lot of pressure on the ball," Hinchman said. "I think we ran the offense very well tonight."

"(Our defense) gave us a good opportunity to get quick baskets off steals," Whitley added. "(Hinchman) played a solid game. It was going to be different (with DeKalb guard Helen Muleya back in the lineup) than the first time we played. They had 10 points at halftime, and she had 7 of them."

Hinchman collected 9 of the Vikings' opening 16 points to give Geneva its first double-digit lead.

Muleya, who finished with 11 of the Barbs' 19 points, reduced the Vikings' cushion to single digits on a 3-point play with 2:27 to play before halftime.

That's when Whitley took command.

The Vikings' junior standout trumped Muleya's 3-point play with one of her own on the ensuing possession, and the guard extended her personal run to 8 straight with a 3-point field goal and inside score the next two trips.

Geneva led 24-10 at the break.

Muleya hit a mid-range jumper to start the third-quarter scoring, but disaster befell the Barbs from that point.

Geneva ended all suspense with a 17-0 run over the next eight-plus minutes bridging the final two quarters; Hinchman tallied 6 in the unanswered blitz, and the Vikings' twin inside attack--Lauren Wicinski and Kelsey Augustine -- controlled the glass.

Wicinski had 12 rebounds to lead all players through three quarters as the Vikings' lead swelled to 41-12 a minute and a half into the final quarter.

"It was one of the worst games we've played since I've been here," said DeKalb coach Debbie Whitman. "We didn't execute at all. There's nothing much else to say."