Batavia ousts Bartlett

Perhaps a little pregame adversity was just what Batavia's girls basketball team needed.

Prior to Tuesday night's Class 4A Schaumburg regional semifinal - held at Conant due to gym floor surface issues - the Bulldogs had to deal with their own transportation problems.

"We started with a little bus fiasco," said Batavia coach Kevin Jensen, whose team held on for a 65-62 victory over Bartlett. "It didn't get scheduled the way it was supposed to so we were frantically scrambling to get two of our smaller activity buses.

"Looking back, maybe that was a good thing. They stayed calm. I needed to vent but the girls did a great job.

Batavia (18-11), which defeated Bartlett 54-39 back on Nov. 21, got off to another fast start this time around.

Junior guard Hailey Orman (12 points) knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and junior center Ava Sergio added 6 points of her own as the Bulldogs opened an early 14-8 lead.

Batavia, which led 20-16 after the first quarter, built a 38-27 halftime advantage.

"Unfortunately, we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole in the first quarter and a half," said Hawks coach Brad Hunt. "It ended up being the difference in the game."

Batavia's swelled to as many as 11 in the second half, as sophomore guard Erin Golden tallied 8 of her 15 points in the third quarter.

Led by seniors Kayla Hare (20 points, 5 steals) and Danielle Kleeman (16 points, 9 rebounds), the determined Hawks (19-11) cut the deficit to 2 on five separate occasions in the fourth quarter.

A steal and layup by the Hawks' Savannah Standefer trimmed Batavia's lead to 63-62 with 19 seconds remaining.

Junior guard Jenna Laughlin calmly hit a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left - her only points of the contest - to help give Batavia some breathing room.

"That was huge," said Jensen. "We don't do anything but shoot two free throws at a time in practice. It's a lot of pressure when you have to make two."

Sergio paced the Bulldogs with a career-high 25 points, 6 rebounds and 7 blocked shots. She hit all 6 of her field-goal tries in the final period.

"I definitely had a height advantage and I was just strong in the post," said Sergio, who finished 12 of 15 from the floor. "They didn't double on me until the last minute."

Allison Newberry had 7 points and 3 assists while senior Paris Chaney chipped in with 4 points and a game-high 12 rebounds as the 8th-seeded Bulldogs earned a spot in Thursday's regional title game.

Batavia hopes the third time is the charm against top-seeded Geneva (25-3) after suffering a pair of regular-season losses to the Vikings.

"We're looking forward to it," said Jensen. "We knew if we saw them again, it would be in a regional final so that's a positive thing."

Freshman Lexie Sinclair added 15 points for 9th-seeded Bartlett.

"It was probably one of the best 8-9 games you're going to see this year," said Hunt. "I couldn't have asked for anything more from my girls."