Rolling Meadows' perimeter attack subdues Batavia

Sam Elenz illuminated Rolling Meadows' afternoon in Batavia from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Mustangs' junior was otherwise shut out against the Bulldogs in the schools' nonconference game.

That is, with the exception of the back-to-back 3-pointers she drained in the third quarter.

Batavia never scored again in the quarter as the Mustangs ultimately built an 18-point lead early in the fourth quarter en route to a 53-44 victory.

Six different Rolling Meadows players combined for 10 3-pointers as the Mustangs improved to 6-4 while dropping the host Bulldogs to 3-6.

"Offensively, I wasn't doing too much," Elenz said. "I had two open looks and made them. It gave me a little bit of an adrenaline rush."

Erin Golden, a three-year starting guard for Batavia, had 9 points.

"We just had to be all over the place (defensively)," Golden said.

Emily Galvin played the role of first player off the bench to perfection for Rolling Meadows.

A sophomore guard, Galvin not only converted two 3-pointers but also scored in transition to lead both teams with 14 points.

"As the sixth man, I feel as though I have to earn my playing time," Galvin said.

Batavia post Tessa Towers' consecutive inside scores early in the first quarter were the Bulldogs' only two leads of the game.

Susannah Holifield scored all 8 of her points in the opening quarter - largely due to two more 3-pointers - to jump-start the Mustangs' offense.

"We definitely work on (our perimeter shooting) a lot in practice," Galvin said. "It carried over to the game."

Rolling Meadows' 16-8 first-quarter-closing run gave the team a sense of comfort for the remainder of the contest as the Bulldogs would never slice their deficit to less than 5 points the rest of the way.

The 3-pointers Elenz buried on consecutive possessions were part of a 16-2 blitz bridging the third and fourth quarters that gave Rolling Meadows its game-best spread of 47-29.

"We just couldn't get our offense going (during that stretch)," Golden said.

"That's real tough when we have committed to zone," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said of the challenges Rolling Meadows presented. "They move the ball real well. They wouldn't have had all those 3-pointers if they didn't move the ball well."

Madi Neidbala and Bridget Rolla complemented the game-high Galvin performance for the Mustangs with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Batavia rallied late as Towers scored 8 of her team-high 12 points in the final quarter.