Natalie Warner gets hot late in return from injury, helps Batavia to big win over Wheaton North

BATAVIA — Natalie Warner had been itching to get back out on the floor for Batavia.

After sitting out the past two contests for the Bulldogs with an ankle injury, the senior came back into the starting lineup to face Wheaton North.

And while it took her a little bit to warm up, once she got hot, she couldn’t be stopped.

“I almost felt like I had something to prove,” Warner said. “We just needed some energy and I was feeling confident. And all my teammates supporting me on the court just fired me up.”

Warner finished the night with a game-high 18 points, including five 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs run away with a 48-24 victory over the Falcons on Wednesday night.

“I thought the girls were just relentless,” Bulldogs coach Kevin Jensen said. “That was kind of the theme of the day. And it’s tough to beat a relentless team.”

After only going 2 of 5 from the floor in the first half, Warner started lighting up the scoreboard midway through the third quarter, making 4-of-5 shots from the floor, including three corner 3s to further extend the Bulldogs' lead after entering halftime up 26-15.

“I was just thinking ‘Oh please go in’ every time I shot the ball in the second half,” Warner said. “But I just felt like I took better shots in the second half and I was excited that they were going in.”

Also returning to the lineup for Batavia (17-8 overall, 7-2 DuKane conference) was senior Hallie Crane, who sat out the past two games with a wrist injury. The Bulldogs' leading scorer on the season finished the night with 12 points, while also putting up five of the team’s 16 steals on the night.

“The presence (Warner and Crane) bring just kind of empowers the other people around them,” Jensen said. “They might catch fire, but even if they don’t, others around them feel more confident that they’re there. Those are two very good options for us and they do well on both sides of the ball.”

Also adding to the Bulldogs' scoring spree was senior Kaidyn King, who finished the night with 13 points - seven of them coming in the first quarter.

On the other side, Wheaton North (11-13, 4-6) couldn’t find a way to get around the Bulldogs' pressure. After scoring 11 points off four makes from the floor in the first quarter, the Falcons only managed four makes in the final three quarters combined.

“They just outworked us and were by far the more physical team,” Falcons coach Tyler Bantz said. “They were going after loose balls, they had a ton of energy from the start. They just took it to us early, and then we just never really recovered.”

The Falcons did have some bright spots on the night, specifically when they moved to full-court pressure. Senior Brea Moore ended the night with a team-high five steals, with four coming after the switch.

“When we can get up and pressure a little bit, I think we can get some of those steals,” Bantz said. “Once we did pressure a little bit, we got some steals and got some easy baskets. And I think we needed to get a handful more of those if we were going to be really in it.”