Batavia rolls to 7-0 start

Last year at Oswego's Holiday Classic, the Batavia girls basketball team entered the tournament undefeated and ended up finishing in third place.

The Bulldogs suffered their first couple of losses of the season. This year, however, they did not want to repeat the pattern this year, so they didn't.

Batavia opened tournament play Saturday with a 57-31 win against Sandwich and are still undefeated this year at 7-0.

"Our goal is to win this championship here," Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker said. "(But) it's one win. We have three more. That's what we came here for."

"It's good (winning the first game), but there's still more to work on," senior guard Natalie Tarter added. "The next one is Monday, so we'll be ready by then."

The Bulldogs jumped out on a 14-0 run, led by Melissa Norville, Kara Lydon, Tarter and Becca Heimsath. Sandwich broke its drought by scoring five consecutive points, only to have the Bulldogs tally the final 7 points of the quarter.

By the break, Batavia led 37-14.

"It was nice to see them come out," DeBruycker said.

The only quarter DeBruycker wasn't pleased with was the third, when Batavia outscored Sandwich 15-10.

"I wasn't happy with the effort," he said. "We barely won the quarter. I was hoping to do what we did in the first quarter...but we'll take the win."

By the fourth quarter, Batavia's bench was in the game. Its largest lead of the game was 57-26 after a basket from Kim Anderson with 3:01 left to play.

Only three players did not score for the Bulldogs, who were led by Tarter's 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Lydon finished with 11 points and 3 steals and Norville tallied 9 points and 3 steals.

Tournament action continues for the Bulldogs on Monday, when they play Chicago Clark at 7 p.m. Batavia plays host-Oswego Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.