Girls Basketball: Stevenson on a roll

Balanced scoring and tough defense helped Stevenson collect three straight wins in the Maine West Tournament last week.

It also helps to have Katie Batman firing up shots.

Batman scored 36 points in the three games, highlighted by a 16-point effort in Saturday’s 55-51 victory over Crane.

“Shooting is definitely my strength over ballhandling,” Batman said. “I tried to work on my shot in the offseason.”

The Cougars watched Batman nail four shots from behind the three-point arc. Yet the 5-foot-10 senior is capable of scoring from all spots on the floor.

“Katie is our best shooter,” said Patriots coach Tom Dineen, whose club is 3-1 overall. “She’s also been taking the ball to the basket and getting to the free throw line.”

Batman deflected credit for her offensive surge to point guard Kari Moffat.

“Kari is a great point guard,” Batman said. “She gets the ball to everyone on the team.

“We have five good players who can score,” she added. “And we have some kids coming off the bench who can score as well.”

The other factor in the three-game winning streak is defense. The Patriots knocked off Maine West 45-33 on Nov. 23 and shut down Mother McAuley in a 44-37 triumph on Nov. 25.

“After our first game versus Rolling Meadows (a 68-63 double-overtime loss), we saw that defense was our weakness,” Batman said. “He (Dineen) has been trying to stress playing good defense.”

Additionally, the club has been deploying a 2-3 zone on a regular basis.

“We all move well on defense,” Batman said. “And we have a tall girl in the middle (Julia Dabrowski is 6-2) who is good at blocking shots.”

Recap: In the 12-point decision over Maine West, the offensive leaders were Batman (10 points), Olivia Whalen (10 points), Moffat (8 points) and Dabrowski (8 points).

The Warriors grabbed a 15-11 lead through one quarter. But the Patriots held Maine West to 18 points over the final three periods.

“We made a little adjustment and started to play tougher defense,” Dineen said.

Against Mother McAuley, the leading scorers were Batman (10), Moffat (9), Alex Elzinga (8) and Dabrowski (8).

The Mighty Macs led 19-16 at halftime. But Mother McAuley scored only one point in the third quarter, as the Patriot defense took control of the game.

In the four-point decision over Crane, Batman led the charge with 16 points. She was supported by Elzinga (10), Moffat (10) and Dabrowski (8).

Frosh sensations: The Patriots continue to receive strong contributions from the freshmen trio of Sophia Way, Taylor Buford and Jackie Green.

“Sophia hit a couple of big baskets against Crane,” Dineen said. “Taylor was very active against Mother McAuley. She was the key to our strong defense in that game. And Jackie played well in all three games.”

On the schedule: Stevenson returns to action Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. when the club travels to Zion-Benton for a North Suburban Lake division opener. The Patriots will wrap up play in the Maine West Tournament with two games: Marian Catholic (6:30 p.m. on Dec. 2) and Hersey (2:30 p.m. on Dec. 3).

All three contests figure to be stiff tests for the Patriots. The Zee-Bees were ranked No. 13 in the Sun-Times Super 25 Preseason Rankings (the Patriots were No. 23).

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