Fenwick overtakes Batavia in 4th quarter
Teams scout future foes to determine which players provide most of the opponent's scoring.
Batavia was prepared to closely guard Elise Heneghan and Audrey Hinrichs, Fenwick's two freshman post players, who provide most of the team's firepower, in a matinee Monday at Willowbrook High School.
However, it was Gianni Ortiz, the Friars' normally low scoring point guard, who sank the clutch baskets in the Bulldogs' 46-42 loss in the Coach Kipp's Hoopsfest game.
"I felt like two (Ortiz) hurt us the most because she hit some big shots. We thought that she was a very complete guard, but I didn't know if she would be that aggressive with her shot," said Batavia coach Kevin Jensen. "We had (scouted) a bunch of games and it was totals like 3, 4, 5, 2. We thought she could shoot the ball well but is she going to knock down the clutch 3s to get them the win? We didn't know but now we do."
"She is our pure point guard," Fenwick coach David Power said. "She not only played point guard today, but she also put up some nice numbers for us."
Batavia (11-12) held a 33-31 lead at the 6:15 mark in the fourth quarter. Ortiz sank a jumper to tie the score at 33-all.
Bulldogs junior Erin Golden responded with her own layup to retake the lead, 35-33. On the next trip down the court, Ortiz' third 3-pointer of the game put Fenwick (19-7) back in the lead, which it never relinquished. The senior scored 14 points.
With 4:05 left to play, Hailey Orman drained a trey from the left wing to pull Batavia within 39-38.
Heneghan, who led all scorers with 19 points, made back-to-back baskets to give Fenwick a 43-38 advantage with less than three minutes left. On the second bucket, Ava Sergio fouled out.
Despite being in foul trouble most of the game - officials whistled the Winona State bound senior for her third infraction late in the second quarter - she lead all Batavia scorers with 15 points.
"I tried to score as much as I could to help my team out," Sergio said. "I didn't want to leave the game."
"We got fouls on their post player and she eventually fouled out. I thought that was one of the keys," Powers said.
The game got off to a slow start as it took four minutes for either team to sink a basket. Fenwick led 9-8 after the first eight minutes and held a 23-21 advantage at halftime.
The Bulldogs took the lead at the end of the third quarter, 32-31 on an Orman 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
Golden scored 14 points for Batavia.
The Hoopsfest is named in honor of Derril Kipp, who coached Maine West for 35 years and is considered one of the pioneers of Illinois high school girls basketball. Kipp passed away in July of 2016.