The 2019-2020 basketball season officially tipped off throughout Clermont County on Friday, November 22, and the Williamsburg Lady Wildcats wasted no time picking up where they left off last season.

The team used a 17-0 run to pull away from Batavia in what became a 58-29 victory. Head coach Mike Madsen praised the Lady Bulldogs after the game.

“Batavia’s a rival, and that’s a good team we just played,” Madsen said. “The score might not reflect it, but they played well. They didn’t hit some shots, they got in a little bit of foul trouble early and it kind of dictated the game.”

Most of that foul trouble was directed toward Kennedy Williams. Early in the game, Batavia held a 6-5 lead, but after Williams picked up her second foul, she was forced to the bench. Williamsburg took advantage.

“With [her] in the game, it’s a different ballgame,” Madsen said. “It’s hard to guard her. She’s a good player.”

Batavia head coach Chris Scott said falling behind in the foul count quickly is tough to overcome.

“It’s tough when you go down 14-2 in fouls,” Scott said. “I’m not here to blame referees, those guys did a good job hustling. It’s about easy baskets, we didn’t get a chance to get back on defense. Coach Mike [Madsen] did a good job taking advantage of us not getting back on defense and getting easy baskets.”

Madsen said the team’s plan was and is to be aggressive, and early on Batavia was able to slow that attack down.

“We always attack,” Madsen said. “Our whole gameplan is to attack. Our gameplan is to run. They did a nice job trying to stop our break.”

Statistically, Kiana Dauwe led all scorers with 15 points. She also dished out five assists, grabbed five rebounds and had four steals.

Paige Fisher led both teams with 16 rebounds. She chipped in 10 points, three assists, three steals and a block. Kirstyn Thomas had six points, nine boards and a pair of steals and blocks.

For Batavia, Taylor Myers scored a team-high eight points. Summer Stith and Williams finished with five each.

Macie Mehlman tallied three points and led the team in rebounds with six. She and Myers, the team’s two seniors, both performed well, according to Scott.

“I thought our two seniors did a good job getting the ball to the hoop,” Scott said. “I put a lot of weight on them right now.”

Batavia travels to Fayetteville on Tuesday, December 3. Williamsburg is at Bethel-Tate on Monday, December 2.

Williamsburg’s Kiana Dauwe scored a game-high 15 points in the Lady Wildcats’ win over Batavia on Friday, November 22, 2019.

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Williamsburg’s Kiana Dauwe scored a game-high 15 points in the Lady Wildcats’ win over Batavia on Friday, November 22, 2019.

By Garth Shanklin

Sports Editor