St. Charles N. beats Batavia for 1st win
St. Charles North’s girls basketball team displayed just the hustle and grit its coach was looking for Wednesday night in its Upstate Eight opener against Batavia, from the opening quarter all the way to the final second.
After a North Star turnover at midcourt with 10 seconds to go, Natalie Winkates hustled to get back into the play and eventually get a hand on Liza Fruendt’s 3-point attempt. The ball came down in the hands of Megan Booe as the clock hit 0:00 and the North Stars had a 45-42 victory, their first of the year.
“She (Winkates) was 10 feet behind her (Fruendt),” North Stars coach Colleen Brennan said. “That kid is a competitor, you can see it in her eyes.
“We needed that. The team just came together. Our girls hustled. We looked like a different team.”
St. Charles North (1-5, 1-0) jumped on Batavia (3-3, 0-1) early, taking a 14-4 lead after the first quarter.
Senior Alex Silverman drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to put the North Stars up 8-2, erasing what turned out to be Batavia’s only lead of the night when Fruendt scored six seconds into the game off the opening tip.
Silverman’s early 3s were just the start of a career night. She wound up hitting 6 of 7 3-pointers for a career-high 20 points.
“It was my night,” Silverman said. “I have been in a slump lately and it was nice to shoot it out.”
Silverman knocked down two more 3s in the second quarter to stake the North Stars to a 23-12 halftime lead. Batavia couldn’t get many shots to drop, finishing the first half just 5 of 25 from the field.
The Bulldogs started the third quarter on an 8-2 run to pull within 25-20. Erin Bayram had a pair of the baskets and Fruendt and Michaela Strehlau also scored as all 8 points came in the paint.
Batavia never could get its outside jumpers to fall as it finished 0 of 11 on 3s, quite a contrast to Silverman’s 6.
“She is a shooter who gets in a rhythm,” Brennan said. “She was relocating today. She was hitting them but we were feeding her the ball. The fact we were able to get the ball to her is huge.”
No assist was bigger than Booe’s midway through the fourth quarter. Leading 38-32, sophomore Liz McNally split free throws. Booe grabbed the rebound on the miss and found Silverman for her final 3 of the night to complete a 4-point possession and give the North Stars a 42-32 lead with 5:08 remaining.
Batavia made one last charge. After the North Stars took care of the ball committing just 2 turnovers in the first quarter, they had 25 over the next three, and those mistakes nearly let their game-long lead slip away.
Kaytlin St. Clair’s jumper from the free-throw line followed by Strehlau’s assist to Ryan got the Bulldogs within 42-36. Fruendt scored on a pair of 1-hand floaters in the lane to trim the Stars’ lead to 42-40.
After a Winkates free throw made it 43-40, Bayram’s second chance basket while drawing a foul gave the Bulldogs a chance to tie with 1:04 left. The free throw didn’t drop, and after Booe split free throws the Bulldogs had the ball with 26 seconds to go down 44-42 but Fruendt’s 3 from the key missed and 5-foot-7 Alyssa Garcia fought for the rebound.
Garcia made one free throw for a 45-42 lead with 13 seconds to go. After Batavia turned the ball over the North Stars appeared to have the game won.
But Fruendt’s seventh steal of the game gave Batavia one last chance, and the sophomore raced to her basket ahead of the defense and alertly pulled up for a potential game-tying 3-point shot only to have the trailing Winkates come and get a piece of the ball which came up well short of the basket.
Winkates also was second to Silverman with 7 points for the North Stars who were hungry for a win after a tough start at the York tournament.
“Our first tournament was really rough,” Silverman said. “It’s great to get out there and everybody had confidence and came home with a win.”
Fruendt led Batavia with 16 points. Bayram added 9 points and 10 rebounds and Strehlau scored 8.
“We thought we could play better,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. “We never could get our shots to fall. And we didn’t play the level of defense we wanted to.”
Lauren DeMoss and Garcia both had 3 steals for the North Stars and Garcia earned her team’s biggest cheer of the night by drawing the first charge of the season in the second quarter.
“We started today fresh,” Brennan said. “First home game, first conference game, first win, let’s get all three. And they showed up to play. We dove for balls, we got loose balls. We still made some mistakes. But you can see how excited they are, and I am too.”