Geneva leaves no doubt
It was as if Katie Montgomery was playing the age-old basketball game of H-O-R-S-E Thursday night in Batavia.
The Geneva senior guard could simply not miss in the first 10-plus minutes in the championship game of the Class 4A Batavia girls basketball regional.
Montgomery ripped off four consecutive 3-pointers after opening the game with the first bucket on a jumper in the paint during the sequence.
Geneva, the No. 1 seed of Hoffman Estates sectional, breezed to its 12th consecutive regional title with a 62-27 victory.
The Vikings scored the first 12 points of the game, only to have Batavia post Tessa Towers interrupt the unanswered burst with inside scores on back-to-back possessions.
But Geneva scored the last 10 points of the first to take a 22-4 lead.
The outcome was never in doubt the remainder of the way.
The Vikings (24-6) will face DuKane Conference rival Wheaton North on Monday.
Batavia, the No. 10 seed, had its season end at 11-19.
"I just found myself open in space," Montgomery said. "If they were going to leave me that open, I was going to shoot the ball. In the first nine minutes we got the tempo that we were going to bring."
Montgomery scored all 14 of her game-high total during the span as the Vikings led 26-6 after her final field goal from beyond the arc early in the second quarter.
Lindsay Blackmore, who scored all 7 of her points in the first quarter for Geneva, left the game late in the first half, which ended with the Vikings thoroughly in control at 33-9.
"She'll be fine," Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said of her four-year standout who sat out the whole second half.
Geneva missed 21 shots from the field in the first half, yet it was immaterial as the Vikings forced their archrivals into a 3-for-20 collective performance in the first two quarters from the floor.
The Vikings' hallmark full-court defense was a central issue for Batavia.
"They put so much pressure on you," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said.
Kate Palmer ran the Vikings' offense efficiently as ever as Geneva did not miss a beat with Blackmore on the pines in the second half.
Palmer finished with 12 points, which Zosia Wrobel matched - all in the third quarter - spelling Blackmore.
"When Lindsay went out, I knew I had to step up," Wrobel said. "I just had that mentality of making my shots. It's hard to beat a team for the third time."
Erin Golden concluded her brilliant Batavia four-year varsity run with a team-high 9 points; Towers finished with eight.
"She has to go down as one of the best players we have ever had," Jensen said of Golden.