Batavia senior Liza Fruendt has been dealing with an ankle issue recently, but it certainly hasn’t reflected poorly in her performance.
In helping the Bulldogs finish third at Oswego’s Hoops for the Troops Holiday Classic last week Fruendt poured in a career-high 37 points against Proviso East and tallied 32 points in Saturday’s 51-35 win over Rich South for third place with fellow senior Erin Bayram suffering an ankle injury one possession into the game and not returning.
She followed that up with 24 points Monday morning in a 49-34 win over Zion-Benton as the Bulldogs kicked off their second holiday tournament at Montini.
“I am just trying to fight through it and get through this next tournament, which is really important for us,” Fruendt said. “Right now, it hurts a lot, but it doesn’t hurt at the beginning of the game. I think it’s just wear and tear since we’ve been playing a ton of games.”
Batavia is now 11-2 heading into Thursday’s 3 p.m. showdown with highly-touted Trinity at Montini. The good news is that Bayram’s injury was not serious and she was able to play Monday after Saturday’s scare. Bayram was putting weight on the ankle after Saturday’s game.
“We’ll be real, real careful with her because as tough as our games will be at Montini, the more important stuff is down the road, conference and postseason stuff,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. “I don’t want to risk anything being too bad.”
Oswego off to a 4-0 SPC start: The Panthers have been up-and-down overall, going 7-5 thus far, but they are off to a 4-0 start in Suburban Prairie Conference play.
Aside from a lopsided loss to Neuqua Valley, the Panthers have been competitive in their losses. They bounced back from losses to Rich South and Neuqua to wind up taking fifth place at its own tournament last week.
“Our combined record of the teams we lost to is 38-12 (through Thursday),” Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann said. “We’ve played a really good schedule. We could have easily won four of the losses. It’s just a matter of the girls getting confidence and making plays and trusting each other. The girls are starting to believe it.”
Waubonsie bounces back: After an 0-9 start to the season, Waubonsie Valley got on the board with a pair of wins over the weekend, including a last-second, 41-39 win over Indian Prairie School District rival Metea Valley Saturday.
It was a tough loss for a Metea team that headed into this week’s Oswego East tournament as the top seed. Metea got things started with a 43-26 win over Plainfield Central Monday. Metea will face Aurora Central Catholic, a 59-50 winner over Downers Grove South Monday, at 1 p.m. Thursday in the second round.
Waubonsie fell to West Aurora, 53-38, at the Wheaton North tournament Monday. West Aurora earned the fourth seed in the 16-team field. The Blackhawks play again Thursday at 6 p.m. against Lyons in the championship bracket.
