Shots Fail to Drop for Bulldogs

Leah Horton and Sydney Russell of St. Charles North made the most of their Senior Night at the expense of a Bulldogs victory.

The duo combined for 25 points and 21 rebounds to lift the North girls basketball team to a 50-37 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over Batavia Monday night in St. Charles.

Horton scored 14 points, grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and had three steals while Russell also recorded a double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals for the North Stars (13-12, 7-3).

After the Bulldogs (7-16, 4-5) narrowed a 30-22 halftime deficit to three at 33-30 on a pair of three-pointers from freshman guard Liza Fruendt (team-high 14 points), back-to-back three-point plays from Horton and Russell helped ignite a 13-2 run that increased the North Stars’ lead to 46-32 early in the fourth quarter.

“Leah came to play tonight,” said North Stars coach Colleen Brennan, whose team swept the season series from the Bulldogs. “She was huge tonight. She played with a lot of heart out there."

Russell also praised Horton for her all-around effort.

“Leah played excellent,” said Russell, one of eight seniors honored in a ceremony before the game. “She was getting rebounds and making her layups. She was strong for us. It was just a wonderful night for her.”

Fellow senior Tess Fischer added nine points for St. Charles North, while sophomore guard Alex Silverman canned a pair of three-pointers during the North Stars’ 18-13 second-quarter run.

“We couldn’t be more happier with the memory we’re going to take from this game tonight,” said Russell.

A solid start also helped propel the North Stars, who shot out to a 6-0 lead in the first two minutes.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit scoring when people play man (defense) on us,” said Brennan. “But we changed some things the last couple days and you could see that during the first three plays of the game. We got off to the 6-0 lead and, boom, they went straight to a zone.”

Batavia, which managed just four points over the final 14 minutes, couldn’t buy a basket at times.

“I don’t know what we were from three-point range but it had to be bad,” said Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker. “We didn’t shoot well enough to win on the road.”
Batavia made just three of 20 three-point attempts.

“I don’t think we were taking bad shots,” said DeBruycker. “We were getting open looks that those girls can knock down. But they didn’t fall today.”

Freshman Erin Bayram and sophomore Katie Ryan added eight and seven points, respectively, for the Bulldogs.