Huntley bounces back to down South Elgin

After scoring just 24 points in Wednesday's loss to Cary-Grove, Huntley equaled that total in the first quarter Friday. The Red Raiders led 24-11 after 8 minutes and cruised to a 67-50 victory against South Elgin in nonconference girls basketball action in Huntley.

Kadie Lowery had three 3-pointers and 11 points in the big first quarter before finishing with 18. Rachel Chapuis and Cece Tsevas added 17 and 10 points, respectively, for the Red Raiders, who got back to .500 at 9-9.

Becca Smith almost single-handedly brought South Elgin back from the first-quarter deficit. Smith went on a personal 14-2 run midway through the second quarter to get the Storm within 29-25. But the Raiders responded with a 9-2 run to close the first half and never trailed by less than double digits after that.

Smith, who made 11 of 13 free throws, finished with 25 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Dijon Smith added 9 points for the Storm (7-11).

"It's nice to put some points up on the board and at the same time accomplish some things on the defensive end," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz. "It was a good effort tonight."

Lowery's two 3-pointers helped the Raiders build an 8-2 lead. They led 15-11 before scoring the next 12 points to lead 27-11. Then Smith took over the game, scoring the Storm's first 14 points of the second quarter.

"I came and saw these guys the other night and they scored 24 in the whole game," said South Elgin coach Tim Prendergast. "You can't give up 24 points in a quarter. I look at that and that's 96 points for a game. Then we decided to play defense in the second quarter. The girls just weren't ready to play."

Huntley dominated the backboards with a 39-23 rebounding advantage. Chapuis, Lowery, and Tsevas each had 8 rebounds for Huntley.

Both benches saw considerable action early. Amanda Wisniewski had 5 points and 5 rebounds off the bench for Huntley, while Deandra Anderson led the South Elgin reserves with 6 points.