Batavia's pressure rattles Streamwood
As if trying to stop Hannah Frazier in the post wasn't enough for the rest of Upstate Eight, the Batavia junior showed a new dimension to her game during the Bulldogs' 54-32 win over visiting Streamwood Tuesday night.
Frazier swished her only 3-point attempt, part of her game-high 22 points.
With Harvard in the house showing their interest, Frazier hit what she said is the first 3-point basket she can remember in her three years of varsity basketball.
"It was good. It is something I have been working on in the off-season," said Frazier, averaging 25.7 points a game. "I'm more confident shooting from the outside."
Frazier scored 14 of her points and grabbed 7 of her 8 rebounds in the first quarter when Batavia (5-4, 3-1 in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division) opened up a 20-4 lead. She also finished with 4 blocks and 3 steals.
Streamwood (3-5, 2-1) outscored Batavia 26-25 over the middle two quarters before missing all 13 of its field goal attempts in the fourth.
"We could have walked it up and thrown it to Hannah almost ever possession but I don't think we're going to be able to do that against every team," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. "We're going to have to create other opportunities for her to score and others to score."
Bethany Orman added 7 points and Madeline Slater came off the bench for 6. Orman also led the team with 5 assists and 6 steals.
Batavia's press made life miserable for Streamwood all night, forcing turnovers on three of the first four possessions as Frazier, Shea Bayram and Emily Lasse all scored in a game-opening 13-0 flurry.
The Bulldogs totaled 22 steals while holding the Sabres to 26 percent shooting from the field. Jensen emphasized to his team, "Create chaos, cause panic and don't let them be comfortable," before the game.
"We're going to keep pushing our kids to get more of that all of the time," Jensen said. "We're trying to get our level of play, how hard we play, to a whole new place. And we're gradually getting there I believe. We show spurts."
The best spurt for the Sabres came in the third quarter. Madelin Exline, one of two freshmen in the Sabres' starting lineup, canned a 3-point basket during a 9-4 mini-surge that saw the Sabres cut Batavia's lead to 43-30. But Streamwood only made a pair of free throws over the final quarter and a half.
"We played hard," Streamwood coach George Rosner said. "We didn't give up. There was a time there where the game could have been pretty interesting. We have a stretch now with the four tough (UEC River) teams and we absolutely have to take care of the basketball. We're capable of it."
Cayla Hawkins and Kiana Jeremiah both scored 9 points to lead the Sabres while sophomore Jenejha Williams finished with 6 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out.
"Two good quarters, two very good quarters," Rosner said. "We took care of the ball, we hit some shots and gave them less second attempts. Those were two good quarters but you can't dig a whole like we did that first quarter."
Jensen liked the aggressive play from Mackenzie Foster (5 points), Bayram (4 points) and Jessica Koch (4 points) while Lasse, Katie Weber and Morgan Erickson all chipped in a basket for Batavia, who welcomes 6-1 St. Charles East for a tough test Friday.
"I'm not making any bones this year and I didn't last year about who our best player is," Jensen said. "But at the same time I want more of our team to be ready to step up. When you are open to shoot the ball. Do I want Hannah to get a touch? Yes. But that doesn't mean the rest of us are robots. I thought they did a real nice job of getting shots up, drives to the basket."