Girls Basketball: Liza Fruendt leads Batavia to ‘W’ over St Edward

Updated: February 16, 2012 10:48AM

Batavia’s girls basketball team looked nothing Thursday night like the previous night in a loss to St. Charles North and St. Edward looked nothing like it did in rolling to a 5-0 start to the season.

That was a good thing for the Bulldogs, who suddenly found their shooting touch and came away with a 58-52 nonconference, home-court victory behind 17 points from guard Elizabeth Fruendt and 13 by Tamar Norville.

“We couldn’t hit anything last night,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. “We had to have shot a dozen threes or over 15 and didn’t make one.

“Tonight it was more the mid-range jumpers that went in for us and we didn’t get any of those last night. We just shot the ball well.”

The Bulldogs hit 13-of-23 from the field in the second half (57 percent) and held off St. Edward’s late rally attempt behind a strong interior defense.

The Green Wave committed four turnovers in the final two minutes after shooting for a tie with 2:01 remaining. Erin Bayram, who had eight points, made a rebound shot for a 52-48 lead with 1:45 left and the Bulldogs (4-3) protected that lead by making 6-of-8 free throws when St. Edward (5-2) had to foul.

“We weren’t sharp on either end of the floor tonight,” said St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson, whose team has now lost two straight. “Defensively, we didn’t get the key stops when we needed them.”

St. Edward committed 20 turnovers on the night and six in the final quarter.

“We were never able to get the momentum rolling our way and kind of break away and get to that next level,” Dawson said. “And offensively we just weren’t clicking.”

St. Edward came back from a 41-34 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run, then trailed 45-44 with 5:15 left before Bayram sank a hook shot from in close to widen the lead.

After a St. Edward timeout, Katie Ryan hit one of those mid-range jump shots Jensen spoke about, a 15-footer, that widened the lead to 49-44 and kept St. Edward in chase mode the rest of the way.

The Green Wave did get within 49-48 after two free throws by Rena Renallo, but Bayram’s two free throws, a short miss inside by St. Edward’s Alexandra Lee and a 12-foot shot by Norville from the side let the Bulldogs pull away.

“Tamar hit a three early in the game,” Jensen said about 5-foot-8 senior forward, who hadn’t been a starter. “She brought us a little energy out there.”

Ryan and Miranda Grizaffi both had started prior to Thursday but Jensen switched up the lineup and had those two on the bench. Both came through with big play in relief, Ryan scoring four fourth-quarter points and Grizaffi hitting for seven points. Reserve Sami Villarreal also had five big points in the third quarter after St. Edward had regained the lead, and Batavia started the fourth quarter with a 39-34 advantage.

“I told the girls I just wanted to start someone different, just wanted to make a change, for no real reason,” Jensen said.

Madeline Kerry had 14 points, Callie Johnson 11 and Katherine Von Ahnen had 10 for St. Edward.

The Green Wave rally occurred after Dawson went to a press.

“I tried to do something to get a little bit more energy, to get a spark,” she said. “We forced a couple turnovers but within the half-court defense we just weren’t able to get the key stops.”

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