Kaidyn King uses timely passing, consistent shooting to lead Batavia past Geneva

BATAVIA — Batavia senior guard Kaidyn King is a big fan of making an extra pass.

It’s a part of her mindset on the court to contribute no matter how she’s doing in the shooting department.

And in a rivalry game against Geneva, she knew what she had to do to help her team to a victory.

And it worked.

King finished the night with a team-high 14 points and seven assists to help lead the Bulldogs to a 54-45 over the Vikings on Friday night.

“I just gave it my all, and all of our other players gave their all as well,” King said. “We’ve worked all week for this, and we prepared for all of what they had to give us and then we just outworked them.”

Batavia (8-2, 4-0 DuKane Conference) struggled with fouls in the first half, committing 11 while the Vikings didn’t pick up a single foul. The foul trouble was one of the big reasons why the Bulldogs only led 20-17 at the half.

“When you put people on the line, especially from a good team like Geneva, it just takes away the tempo that we want and gives them free points,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. “We were just giving things away. But once our defenders stopped fouling, it was so much better.”

But once the defense loosened up a bit, the Bulldogs managed to pull away thanks to some of the offensive looks King made both shooting and on passes to players like senior forward Hallie King (14 points) and senior guard Natalie Warren (10 points).

“Coach Jensen does a great job giving us our sets, and when we run them right, we can get great looks,” King said. “Our girls are so good at reading and reacting to each play that the defender gives us, and then it’s just easy.”

After finishing the first half only down by three points, Geneva (3-7, 2-2) could not get its offense to keep up with the Bulldogs in the second. Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said after getting multiple trips to the charity stripe in the first half, the Vikings' inability to do so in the second half just dropped their momentum.

“It was really just two different halves for us, and our free throws kept us in the game in the first half, and Batavia adjusted well in the second half,” Meadows said. “I just wish we could have had a bit more momentum on offense.”

One Viking player who didn’t lose momentum in the second half was senior forward Bridget Hecker, who scored nine of her game-high 16 points in the second half.

“Bridget has played amazing for us all year, and we’re relying on her for sure,” Meadows said. “She steps up for us every game and I’m really proud of her.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/kane-county-chronicle/2024/12/21/kaidyn-king-uses-timely-passing-consistent-shooting-to-lead-batavia-past-geneva/