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Batavia tops Larkin behind Fruendt’s 29

Senior guard Liza Fruendt scored a game-high 29 points while sophomore forward Hannah Frazier added 10 points and 15 rebounds as Batavia’s girls basketball team earned a 62-42 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over Larkin Tuesday night in Batavia.

Fighting off the effects of a lingering cold, Fruendt tallied 12 of her points in the opening quarter as the Bulldogs (6-1, 3-0) jumped out to a 21-6 lead.

The 5-foot-9 sharpshooter combined with 6-2 senior forward Erin Bayram (9 points) for all 13 of the Bulldogs’ second-quarter points as they extended their halftime lead to 34-15.

Batavia coach Kevin Jensen substituted freely throughout, especially in the second half.

Jensen sent in 5 reserves just 32 seconds into the third quarter before bringing his starters back with Batavia ahead 38-26 with 2:05 left in the period.

Fruendt, who added 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists, drained a 3-pointer from the corner on Batavia’s opening possession of the fourth quarter to help ignite an 11-0 run that put the game out of reach.

“It wasn’t our best game but our starters didn’t play a ton of minutes,” said Fruendt.

With his team heading into one of its busiest stretches of the season, Jensen was planning to find some additional rest for his starters.

“It’s one we needed to get and be confident with and get a lot of (playing time) for our younger girls,” said Jensen. “I thought we had some real nice stretches and there were times where I thought we could have been a little more focused with a little more effort.

“When we do that, usually our execution will follow. It was good to get our full squad a lot of minutes.”

Shea Bayram (2 points, 8 rebounds), Bethany Orman (3 assists, 3 rebounds), Madeline Slater (5 points, 4 rebounds), and freshman Mackenzie Foster (9 rebounds) also contributed for the Bulldogs.

While the Bulldogs stretched their winning streak to 4, there were areas for improvement that Jensen discussed with his team following the game.

“According to our shot chart, we shot a horrendous percentage on layups,” said Jensen. “We missed 25 layups. That’s 50 points on the table there. I know a couple times we got some rebounds and put them back in but that’s a lot (of points) to leave out there.”

“We’re rolling,” said Fruendt, who shot 11 for 19 from the field. “Now we’ve got to make sure that we’re getting to the point where we can beat really good teams and not just decent teams. We’ve got to make sure our focus and effort is always there.”

Freshman guard Marlee Kyles scored 18 points while senior guard Victoria Patterson added 16 points, 6 rebounds and 6 steals for Larkin (1-5, 0-2) which only dressed 7 players for the game.

“We’re waiting on a couple girls to come back from ankle injuries,” Royals coach Ruben Flores said of guards Quixmia Washington and Sarah ElRahmany. “When ‘Q’ is ready to go, we’ll throw her in the mix and we’ll have a nice three-guard front out there.”

Flores was impressed with the Bulldogs’ ball-handling ability.

“They were poised tonight,” he said. “We tried to do some trapping but we never really got that going.”

Freshman center Haley Casebeer added a team-high 9 rebounds for Larkin.

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