When a player puts up the kind of numbers Hannah Frazier did this season, it demands attention.
Attention she has no interest in bringing on herself.
Humble to the core, the Batavia junior’s home base keeps her feet firmly planted on the ground.
“My parents tell me not to get a big head,” Frazier said. “They’re trying to make sure I’m on the right path.”
A path that brought Frazier from Crystal Lake to Batavia when she was two years old, took her to basketball prodded by teammate Bethany Orman in middle school, eventually led to the most statistically dominant season in the area.
It’s hard to fathom where a 15-15 Batavia team would have finished without Frazier.
Frazier averaged 22.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. She scored 20 points or more in 11 games, 30 or more six times.
In December Frazier became the fifth — and fastest — Batavia player to pass 1,000 career points. At 1,371 she is 550 shy of the record, held by Liza Fruendt.
Named Second Team All-State by the Associated Press and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, Frazier is this year’s Beacon-News Player of the Year. She is the second straight Batavia player to earn that distinction, joining Fruendt.
“Everyone’s goal was just to surround her, and she’d still get hers,” Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. “It’s just remarkable.”
Hardly flashy, Frazier goes about her business with a humility that mimics her personality.
That attitude, as much as her athletic ability, seems to run in the genes.
Her mom Erin, who played basketball, swimming and tennis, and her dad Jeff, who played football and wrestled, met at Wheaton College.
Jeff is now the pastor at First Baptist Church in Geneva. Strong Christian values have been passed down to Hannah and her older brother Noah.
Friends know Frazier to be the kind of girl who does not make the wrong decisions like underage drinking.
She’s the type of teammate who has her priorities in order too.
“You have to keep in mind that it’s not about you, it’s what you can do for the team,” Frazier said. “People aren’t going to remember who got the most points; they’ll remember you for helping your team win.”
Frazier came to basketball relatively late in the game. She played in a Tri-Cities soccer league, middle school volleyball and in-house basketball. The summer before eighth grade future Batavia point guard Orman talked Frazier into joining the Lady Lightning travel program. She played with them until switching to the Midwest Elite this year.
For two seasons at Batavia, Frazier was the ideal complement to Fruendt.
Stepping into Batavia’s varsity on day one, Frazier averaged 10.8 points and 7.8 rebounds as a freshman. The next year she improved those numbers to 12.7 and 8.4; she scored 22 points in a regional final to help Batavia win its first regional in 24 years, then scored the game-winning basket to give the Bulldogs their first sectional win.
Fruendt graduated, and Frazier immediately showed she could fare fine in the alpha role.
She scored 30-plus points in three of Batavia’s first five games, including a 36-pointer.
Opponents zoned Batavia, others double-teaming Frazier. A couple teams essentially stopped guarding other Batavia girls.
A sturdy 6-foot-2 post, Frazier showed she can take a hit and still score.
“Quite frankly I think people just decided to beat on her, to see if she got fouls called,” Jensen said. “She got fouled more than fouls called on her, good officiating or bad officiating.”
Adapting, Frazier started to expand her game outside – which could behoove her at the next level.
St. Louis is the latest of 10 scholarship offers that includes DePaul. Michigan State has shown recent interest.
Ivy League is another possibility. Frazier is No. 1 in her class with a 4.375 GPA and a 30 ACT, and plans to study engineering. Ivy schools Princeton and Bucknell have offered.
“She’s improved her ballhandling, improved her overall game,” Jensen said. “I think she will keep evolving.”
Joshua Welge is a freelance writer.