Maine South entered Tuesday night’s nonconference clash with visiting Batavia intent on shoring up a defense that allowed 50 or more points in back-to-back games.

In the game’s opening quarter, the Hawks forced two steals. Maine South racked up six more by the end of the first half. By the final buzzer, the home team had swiped the ball 14 times from the Bulldogs, and South (16-3, 6-0) cruised to a 45-25 victory.

“We’ve been giving up some points here in the last three or four games, and we wanted to try to get back to the basics and fundamentals of our defense,” Hawks coach Jeff Hamann said. “I thought we did a much better job of that tonight.”

Suffocating pressure met Batavia (5-15, 2-4) from the opening tipoff, as South forced a shot-clock violation on its first defensive possession.

Early in the first, Emily Currey found junior guard Hayden Fahy for a right-wing triple. Fahy caught fire from there, finishing the initial frame with eight points.

Fahy, who finished with 18 points and three steals of her own, noted the work put into executing in transition.

“We practice all the time with our own team, from our defense straight into transition,” Fahy said. “I think we talk so much on defense that it helps us so much.”

Following a 10-2 burst to start the game by Maine South, the Bulldogs battled, closing the lead to one at the end of the first.

Freshman guard Sidnee Justice paced Batavia’s scoring efforts early in the matchup, pouring in four first-quarter points. Senior forward Ali Thomas totaled five points and three rebounds in the contest.

Unfortunately for the visitors, as turnovers continued to rack up the deficit widened, and coach Kevin Jensen’s crew dug a hole they could not climb out of.

“We know this is a very good team,” Jensen said. “We traditionally play one of the hardest schedules in the state with the idea of ‘whatever the record says at the end, we’re going to be as prepared as possible for postseason play.’ (Hamann’s) always got these girls playing so hard and physical, and we kind of needed that for some of our young pups, to have to go against that physicality.”

Steals by Hawks junior Gianna LaVecchia opened and closed the third quarter. LaVecchia finished the night with five steals and added six points. Currey tallied eight points, six rebounds and a trio of crushing blocks.

Maine South will look to push its winning streak to five when the Hawks travel to Downers Grove North Wednesday night.

For Batavia, a road battle with Wheaton Warrenville South awaits Thursday.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20260113/girls-basketball/girls-basketball-maine-south-locks-down-on-defense-stymies-batavia/