Girls Basketball: Batavia's Morgan Haug happy to be back on the court making an impact

NAPERVILLE – Batavia’s Morgan Haug does not aspire to play college basketball.

The 5-foot-6 junior guard plays basketball for the fun of it, and these days she’s thankful just to get on the court.

Haug was on varsity as a sophomore but missed the entire season because of a torn ACL. But she’s healthy now and embracing her reserve role.

“It’s just fun,” Haug said. “I sat all of last season, so whenever I go out, I just want to do whatever I can because I feel it all was building up, so it all just comes out.”

That’s what happened Tuesday night. Haug came off the bench late in the first quarter against Naperville North and quickly tallied all eight of her points, sinking a pair of free throws and three consecutive shots.

Haug’s efforts helped turn a blowout loss into a respectable result. The visiting Bulldogs trailed by as many as 25 points early but cut the deficit to 11 before the Huskies recorded a 71-54 victory.

“She did an outstanding job,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said of Haug. “Alyssa Sarik missed the last two games with the flu and Morgan was kind of thrown into jumping in as our backup point guard.

“When she came in tonight, she did a really nice job. She plays so hard and hit some nice shots, good a couple backdoor looks. That was good for us.”

The start of the game was definitely not good for Batavia, which took a 2-0 lead on Erin Golden’s layup just five seconds in, only to see the Huskies go on a 33-7 run behind the terrific play of star junior forward Greta Kampschroeder.

A major Division I recruit, Kampschroeder sank her first eight shots, scoring 16 points in the first quarter en route to a career-high 36. The 6-footer made 15 of 19 shots, including 6 of 9 from three-point range.

“I think we could have been a little bit tighter on her when she got some of those shots, but I’ve seen her play enough and I know what the numbers are like,” Jensen said. “She’s going to go to some Power Five conference school. She’s the best player for a reason – she’s darn good.”

But so were Kampschroeder’s teammates. The Huskies (7-2) made 27 of 48 shots, including12 of 23 3-pointers. Guard Nikki Kwilosz made a trio of treys, while guard Layla Henderson had two and forward Sarah Lockridge one.

“I must have wronged the three-point gods in another lifetime,” Jensen said. “They had all kinds of girls knocking down threes. We gave them a fair share of open shots but they buried every open shot.”

The Bulldogs (3-7) appeared buried when they trailed 35-10 early in the second quarter. But they pulled within 39-25 at halftime thanks in part to Haug, who relished playing against players the caliber of Kampschroeder.

“I think it’s a great thing for our team because each time we play such a challenging team with such talented players, we always bounce back and do better as the game goes on,” Haug said. “So we have continued to improve against teams like that.”

That was the case against the Huskies. Sophomore center Tessa Towers tallied 17 points to go with seven rebounds, while Golden and Sarik each scored 10 points for the Bulldogs, who closed within 44-33 on Nicole McLaughlin’s layup midway through the third quarter.

The Huskies responded by draining five consecutive 3-pointers but the Bulldogs had gained some confidence.

“We definitely came out not as strong as we could have, so I think right when we realized it was already a 25-point game, we all bounced back and we all responded,” Haug said. “We just tried our best.”

Jensen was satisfied with the effort.

“We battled. We responded the way I was hoping we would respond,” Jensen said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we were quite ready to get going early, but we got some strong efforts from several different girls and there is still lots of positives we can take away.”