Batavia’s Ava Thomas didn’t even ‘sniff the floor’ as a junior. One year later, she grabs share of spotlight.

Batavia’s Ava Thomas is the epitome of a team player.

A senior forward who got with the program and stayed with it, Thomas also knew Thursday night’s game against Glenbard West was “go” time. And that’s just what she did.

But her backstory is something else.

“Ava Thomas didn’t sniff the floor as a junior,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. “She played freshman ball as a freshman, sophomore as a sophomore, only JV as a junior, then was starting as a senior.

“That doesn’t happen very often in girls basketball, but I think it’s meaningful. She might not fill up the stat sheet, but she gets rebounds, had a handful of points including two big fourth-quarter free throws — yes, one was banked. But that was huge for us.”

Indeed, it was.

The 5-foot-9 Thomas reached double figures for the first time this season, leading the Bulldogs to a 63-50 victory in the Class 4A West Chicago Regional championship game.

Thomas scored six of her 12 points in a crucial seven-minute stretch of the second half for Batavia (20-11), which won back-to-back regional titles for the first time in program history.

“I just did what I had to do,” said Thomas, who entered the game averaging 2.2 points in 30 starts.

Leading scorer Brooke Carlson, who averages 19.4 points, scored a game-high 24 but went to the bench with her fourth foul and the Bulldogs leading 37-26 with 4:44 remaining in the third quarter.

When Carlson returned with 5:56 left in the fourth, Batavia had even extended the lead to 52-34, sparked by Thomas and sophomore forward Addie Prewitt with five points, steal and assist in that stretch.

“I had so much trust in my teammates and they got it done,” Carlson said. “They never let the energy down.”

That started in the first quarter with Thomas, Prewitt and sophomore Natalie Warner leading the way.

“They’re always the people diving on the floor, getting it going,” Carlson said. “And that’s one thing we’ve been working and focusing on a lot — that energy

“We build off those little things, it’s something we really value in our program.”

The scrappy Bulldogs, who never trailed, forced eight of the 20 turnovers committed by Glenbard West (21-11) in the first quarter.

“I didn’t play last year in the regional, but I remember the energy on the bench was crazy,” Thomas said. “That’s what I wanted it to be like this year.”

Thomas got it started, stepping around a player to grab the rebound of Prewitt’s missed free throw to score the first basket. She promptly stole the ball and fed a streaking Carlson for a layup.

“When we’re connecting on offense, we’re really connecting and trusting everyone,” said Prewitt, who nearly had a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.

Prewitt and junior guard Kylee Gehrt also led the defense Jensen thought was key to a win that sends Batavia to Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal in the Glenbard West Sectional against conference rival St. Charles North.

Conant meets Lake Park, another DuKane Conference entry, in the 6 p.m. semifinal.

“It’s almost like a conference tournament,” Jensen said.

The 5-8 Prewitt was assigned to the Hilltoppers’ dual scoring threat in 6-0 Kennedy Brandt and held her scoreless the first three quarters. Brandt ended up with eight points.

“We told Addie she was strong enough if Brandt went inside and quick enough if she’s outside,” Jensen said. “I think that challenge charged her up a little bit.”

Gehrt had outside threat Julia Benjamin, who finished with a team-high 10 points but shot just 2 of 8 from 3-point range.

“I thought our defense was pretty strong,” Jensen said. “My assistant, Alex Benters, did a phenomenal job. We felt like we knew what they wanted to do and our kids knew how to execute.

“When Brooke was out, they just believed in each other and said, ‘Hey, we got this.’”