Presenting the 2021-2022 Fox All-Area Girls Basketball Team

The two-time DuKane Conference Player of the Year, Claire Hyde, was without a made field goal as the final buzzer sounded.Hyde, Wheaton North’s senior guard, scored all five of her points from the free-throw line. It was a performance unlike any she had experienced at the high school level, but the Falcons — with a team effort — held off Batavia 39-35 in the Class 4A Bartlett sectional semifinal.

Claire Nazos was the first Batavia senior to have the celebratory basketball net draped around her neck.Eventually, as the jubilant vibes following Batavia’s 50-34 victory over St. Charles North in the Class 4A Addison Trail regional final wafted through the Bulldogs celebration, the plaque and net made its way around for pictures and memories they won’t soon forget.

While cliché in nature, the old “everybody is 0-0 at the start of the playoffs” is a truthful statement.A deeper meaning, as South Elgin girls basketball coach Dan Mandernack explained, is don’t overlook anybody or uniforms might be turned in the next day.

Cassidy Arni and Zosia Wrobel, together, present a conundrum most opponents just can’t contend with. Wrobel scored 19 points and Arni 17, and they combined to hit seven 3-pointers. That and Geneva’s stingy second-half defense allowed the Vikings to erase an early nine-point deficit and go on to a 50-39 win over Batavia to remain unbeaten in the DuKane Conference.

Downers Grove North guard Ryann Wendt ended a seesaw week on a high note.

Batavia coach Kevin Jensen’s voice was emphatic and strong regarding senior Claire Nazos’ performance in the clutch.

Lyons Township, in essence, can have any number of players score a career-high.It was simply Ally Cesarini’s turn.Cesarini, the Lions junior guard, scored a career-high 22 points — 10 coming in the fourth quarter — to help catapult Lyons past Batavia 63-55 to close the Batavia MLK tournament on Monday.

In the final two minutes of the third quarter, Katy Eidle was knocking down 3-pointers like bowling pins. Hersey’s senior sharpshooter hit three in a row in a span of 98 seconds for a 9-0 run that all but sealed a 65-36 Saturday afternoon matinee victory over visiting Batavia at the Carter Gymnasium.

Brooke Carlson was expecting high defensive pressure as the clock ticked closer to zero.Down three with seven seconds left in regulation, the Batavia sophomore somehow found herself open for a three-point attempt.She swished it to force overtime, and hit two free throws in the extra period to finish off a sensational 22-point, 11-rebound game in Batavia’s 54-47 overtime win over St. Charles North.

Mike Miazga takes a look at some of the highlights for girls basketball teams over the Christmas break, including stops at Batavia, South Elgin and Huntley, among others.

Lake Zurich’s Erin Stewart stood around in a daze, motionless for a few seconds in an attempt to digest her most recent shot.Parked a few feet in front of Lake Zurich’s bench, just inches away from coach Chris Bennett, Stewart launched a deep 3-pointer that swished through the net at the third-quarter buzzer in Thursday’s game against Batavia.All game long, Stewart showed a penchant for hitting clutch shots, lifting the Bears with her deadeye shooting to finish with four 3-pointers and 12 points in a 47-39 win over Batavia in the consolation semifinals of the Morton College Girls Basketball Christmas Tournament in Cicero.

Here’s a look at where Fox area schools are headed for girls basketball holiday tournaments, including St. Charles East, Huntley and Burlington Central playing at Montini, and Dundee-Crown hosting its annual Komaromy Classic.

The frenetic pace and rapid scoring seemed more applicable to a track meet than a girls basketball game Friday night in Geneva.The second half of the DuKane Conference girls preliminary between Batavia and Geneva would slow considerably–at least for the scorekeeper manning the clock.In the end, however, there was one constant in the 61-52 Geneva victory.

Claire Hyde was tagged with her third foul with nearly six minutes until halftime Tuesday, a spot the Wheaton North senior veteran knew she probably “shouldn’t be in the situation in the first place.”“When [coaches] were like ‘Hyde, you can’t get into foul trouble,’ it’s like ‘All right, just play how I normally do,’” Hyde said following Wheaton North’s gritty 43-36 victory over Batavia on Tuesday.For the Wheaton North sharpshooter, who finished with 19 points, it simply just means not being over aggressive and paying attention to the little details to help her Falcons win.

Batavia coach Kevin Jensen knew someone would have to step up.Without Wisconsin recruit Tessa Towers and Dubuque commit Claire Nazos Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs were, without a doubt, going to rely heavily on sophomore point guard Brooke Carlson as they hosted Burlington Central.While Carlson led the way for most of the afternoon, the Bulldogs got a huge spark late from Ava Ahrens and Nicole McLaughlin as Batavia held off a late Rockets rally in a 53-52 nonconference victory.

Naperville North graduated a superstar in Greta Kampschroeder. They gained another one in Kenzie Hare. The senior transfer from Bartlett put on a show Monday night in the Huskies’ 75-59 non-conference victory over Batavia. Needing 37 points to reach the 2,000-point mark for her career, Hare poured in 41 points as Naperville North ran its winning streak to eight games to begin the 2021-22 season.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights of the first few weeks of the girls basketball season in the Fox area, including a 6-0 start for South Elgin and updates at Geneva, Batavia, Huntley and more.

Brooke Carlson added another chapter to her expanding legacy, finishing with 24 points, six rebounds, five steals and five assists in Batavia’s 57-54 victory over Butler Prep.

Nicole McLaughlin hardly appeared to break a sweat. With an understandable amount of defensive attention on the Batavia combo of sophomore guard Brooke Carlson and senior forward Tessa Towers, McLaughlin — the Bulldogs’ senior guard — can still find her spots to make an impact in whatever way she can. “I’m pretty sure if we went and logged it, Nicole probably logged the most minutes of anybody tonight,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said following Batavia’s 59-46 victory over Lake Park in their DuKane Conference opening slate on Wednesday.

Being compared to Liza Fruendt at Batavia isn’t just any compliment. A standout who set the Bulldogs girls basketball record with 1,921 points and went on to play Division I basketball at Missouri State is quite the name drop at Batavia. Coach Kevin Jensen got the honor of coaching Fruendt and sees a lot of her in his sophomore point guard Brooke Carlson. The 5-foot-6 Carlson scored a game-high 32 points as Batavia held off Neuqua Valley, 63-56, Tuesday night in both teams’ season opener.

Here’s a look at the girls basketball season in the DuKane

Liza Fruendt, a basketball standout at Batavia, recently joined the women’s basketball staff at the University of Tennessee.