Number of players return on Jensen's 1st Batavia team

On one hand with 10 returning letter-winners Batavia should be a team that girls basketball fans have a good idea of what to expect this winter.

But there's always another hand. And on that one with a first-year coach it should be interesting to see what direction and look the Batavia girls basketball team has going forward.

Kevin Jensen starts his tenure as Batavia coach, and he inherits a veteran team coming off an 8-19 season but with the experience to turn that record around.

Jensen takes over for Tim DeBruycker who coached Batavia the past six years. His 2007-08 squad defeated Geneva three times on their way to winning the Western Sun Conference championship.

Jensen, a 1999 Plano High School graduate, started on a fourth-place state team as a senior. He played two years of college football at Loras College and one year of basketball.

After graduating Jensen came back to Plano where he coached girls basketball in 2003-04 and was an assistant on the boys team in 2004-05. He then spent three years as an assistant boys coach at Oswego East before coming to Batavia. Jensen also coached softball at both Plano and Oswego East.

He said the Bulldogs will be strong at fundamentals while playing pressure defense and a variety of offenses.

"I hope you'll see teams that when you walk away you say 'That team sure played hard,'" Jensen said. "You'll see teams that are great with fundamentals. We'll run elements of motion offense, elements of swing offense, we will put a lot of pressure on other teams. I hope people will see a team that enjoys playing basketball and winning a lot of games."

The key Batavia returners include seniors Michaela Strehlau, Kaytlin St. Clair, Tamar Norville, Heather Anderson and Mariah Zwart. There's also a pair of juniors back Miranda Grizaffi and Katie Ryan plus two promising sophomores Erin Bayram and last year's leading scorer Liza Fruendt.

Another big plus is getting junior point guard Sami Villareal back after missing almost all of last year with a knee injury.

"We have a group of returning seniors that all have a chance to be contributors to the team led by senior point guard Michaela Strehlau," Jensen said. "I feel we have all the pieces needed to be successful: strong ball-handling, shooting, athleticism and size. The only question will be what the picture looks like when we put all the pieces together.

Newcomers to keep an eye on include juniors Jenny Welday, Grace Andrews, Paige Zochert and Abbey McCabe.