Fruendt’s 51 leads Batavia past Geneva

With her last chance in her four years to get a win on rival Geneva’s home court, Liza Fruendt left everything she had on the floor Friday — and put the basketball in the hoop like no Bulldog has done before.

Fruendt, who just became the school’s all-time leading scorer Tuesday, torched the Vikings for a staggering 51 points Friday, leading her team to their first win at Geneva in six years, 75-68.

Her 51 points set another school record. She made 15 of 18 free throws, 6 of 12 from behind the 3-point line, and scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to hold off the charging Vikings.

“It was kind of weird to be honest. It’s hard to fathom,” said the Missouri State-bound senior, whose previous career high was 37.

“I had no idea. I literally had no idea. In the flow of the game I’m not thinking about that. I’m just glad we got the win. It’s really meaningful, especially Erin (Bayram) and I, we have never won on this floor.”

Batavia (14-5, 6-0) took command of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division with the win, dropping Geneva (12-4, 4-2) two games back.

Afterward, all the Vikings could do was tip their hat.

“When something like that happens, that’s a phenomenal athlete right there,” Geneva junior Janie McCloughan said. “You have to respect that. That’s crazy. We wanted to contest every shot she took. I’m at a loss for words. I don’t know what to say. That’s incredible.”

Fruendt also has 7 steals, 6 rebounds and 5 assists while making one spectacular play after another every time Geneva got close, leaving Batavia coach Kevin Jensen at a loss for words to come up with a performance he had ever seen that compared.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a gym when somebody approached that,” said Jensen, who also has coached Batavia’s underclass boys teams. “I will put it this way. Liza is probably the best person I’ve coached boy or girl.”

Batavia led 38-30 at halftime behind Fruendt’s sizzling first half. She scored 24 points, making three 3-pointers including one from NBA range, while also hitting all 7 of her free throws.

Fruendt also assisted on three more baskets, starting with a 3-pointer from Bethany Orman to open the scoring. Batavia jumped to a 7-0 lead before Geneva clawed back to a 10-10 tie on Grace Loberg’s putback.

Fruendt drove right back at Geneva, scoring and drawing the third foul on Sidney Santos with 2:23 left in the first quarter. Geneva took its only lead of the game at 14-13 on an inside move from McCloughan only again see Fruendt answer right away with a long 3 from the volleyball line.

“We ran zero offense on that set and she just chucked a 3 and made it,” Jensen said.

Batavia led 20-15 after one quarter, then quickly pushed it to 25-15 as Geneva coach Sarah Meadows called timeout after the Vikings left Fruendt wide open for a corner 3.

The Bulldogs built their lead to 36-21 before a pair of late 3-pointers from Morgan Seberger helped Geneva stay within 8 points at halftime.

Fruendt added 9 more points in the third quarter, and Batavia needed them to keep a 54-44 lead.

Entering the fourth quarter with 33 points, Fruendt scored Batavia’s next 14 points. The Bulldogs did have a stretch of 3 straight turnovers early in the quarter, and Geneva closed within 56-51 on pullup jumpers from Seberger and Santos, and a Santos feed inside to Loberg.

Again Fruendt responded, first with a 3, then 2 free throws following her steal, a 3-point play and then another steal and breakaway layup to put Batavia up 68-58.

Geneva made one more run, pulling to 72-67 with a minute left on a Courtney Reynolds jumper.

The Vikings fouled the wrong person. Fruendt made the first, then on a rare miss got the ball back in her hands, and eventually found Bayram inside for her fifth assist and a 75-67 lead with just 30 seconds left.

“I just had a feeling once we got going between her (Fruendt) and Erin they weren’t going to let us lose,” Jensen said. “The girls have worked so hard. I’m so proud of how they worked and hopefully that means we can have some good things down the road.”

Bayram added 10 points while Orman and Hannah Frazier both scored 7.

“To me it was like a silent 51,” Bayram said of her best friend’s record night. “We got in there (the locker room) and we had no idea. Then he (Jensen) said it and we were like what? That’s awesome for her, it’s a great accomplishment.”

Seberger led Geneva with 18 points. Loberg, Santos and McCloughan all scored 14, and Loberg had a double-double with her 10 rebounds as the Vikings outrebounded Batavia 40-28.

That’s a winner on most nights. Only not on the Liza Fruendt 51 point nights.

“It’s most meaningful knowing we beat them twice in the regular season,” Fruendt said. “I’ll never forget it.”