Rosary knocks off Batavia

Rosary's basketball team has the ability to create a variety of problems for opponents.

The Batavia Bulldogs are now experts on the many ways that the Royals can beat you after Rosary came away with a 50-42 win in Saturday's first round of the Oswego Holiday Classic.

Both teams were coming off key games the night before when the Bulldogs defeated rival Geneva, while Rosary lost to Montini.

"Even though we got beat yesterday we knew we just had to come out and play our game," Rosary's Jordan Rettig said.

Right from the start the Royals (8-4) were able to get it done at both ends, limiting what Batavia could do with the ball while combining some hot outside shooting with a consistent inside threat.

As the Bulldogs (8-1) were struggling to get any kind of a decent look at the hoop, and connected just 5 times from the field in the first half, Rosary's Victoria Alvarez was lighting it up, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and scoring 8 points in the first quarter.

"We were able to help each other out, and show everything that we can do," Alvarez said. "We were going with the flow, and if someone was open we got them the ball."

When Batavia started going after Alvarez it opened up the low post for Rettig who scored 10 points in the first half.

Down 25-20 at the break, Batavia searched for answers that weren't readily available.

"We were sluggish on offense and defense," Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker said. "Rosary beat us up in the hustle categories."

Kara Lydon and Kelsey Oswald each connected from beyond the arc in the third quarter to keep Batavia within striking distance, but every time the Bulldogs seemed poised to mount a run, the Royals found ways to shut it down.

"We had spurts where we attacked the basket well, but we didn't do that for the full game," DeBruycker said. "We just didn't match their intensity level."

Leading 40-34 after three quarters, Rosary tightened the defensive screws even more. To make life even more difficult for Batavia, the Bulldogs were usually limited to one shot, as Rosary staked a claim to the boards, winning the rebound battle by a 43-17 margin.

"Any time you can beat a team like that on a neutral court you've got to be happy," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "They're a very good team and we wanted to make a statement today."

Kylie Schulz came off the bench to lead the Royals in rebounding with 12, Katie Petrando had 9, and Rettig pulled down 8 to go with her 19 points. Alvarez scored 11, and Faith Jones tossed in 12.

Natalie Tarter led the Bulldogs with 13 points.

Geneva 56, Minooka 39:ŒTaylor Whitley contributed nearly half of Geneva's offensive output in Saturday's Oswego Holiday Classic opening round game, scoring 27 points in her team's 56-39 win over Minooka.

But it was Geneva's defense that proved to be the difference maker, as the Vikings smothered Minooka with full court pressure right from the outset.

"We talked about wanting to come out with a lot of intensity on defense," Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. "That's something we lacked last night."

The Vikings (10-1) were looking for a bounce-back win after suffering their first loss of the season at the hands of rival Batavia the night before.

"After an emotional night, I was proud of the way the girls came out and played," Nolan said. "We had no time to hang our heads, and we played great team basketball today."

Minooka opened the game with a 3-0 lead when Allison Schieffer canned one from beyond the arc, but the Vikings grabbed 8 steals and forced 9 turnovers in the next 3 minutes.

"We were trying to get back to playing defense the way we're used to," Geneva's Emily Hinchman said. "The guards were pressuring out top and played really well together. We were able to help each other, and get the steals."

Hinchman's 4 first quarter steals contributed to a 14-7 Geneva lead, as every possession became an adventure for Minooka.

"Our press really helped us at the start," Whitley said.

The Vikings extended their lead to 26-17 at the break despite a strong effort by Minooka's Jacqueline Selfridge, who scored 10 of her 16 points in the first half, and at times made it look easy to work the low post.

"We knew that she was their go-to player," Nolan said.

As the second half began, Selfridge went back to work inside, and with 2:25 left in the third quarter Minooka had narrowed to score to 35-30.

"The girls stayed calm, and stepped up," Nolan said. "After last night, it was great to be able to come right back out and play against a quality team."

Whatever hope Minooka might have had of pulling off a comeback were swept aside by Whitley, who scored 11 in the third quarter, and 6 more in the fourth as the Vikings pulled away late.

"We just kept pushing the ball and played as hard as we did in the first half," Whitley said. "After that loss last night we all wanted to get out there and go after it."

Olivia Laster scored 8 points as part of an ensemble effort that saw 9 different Vikings break into the scoring column.

"Everyone played their hearts out today," Hinchman said.

-- Henry Perez