Hoffman Estates able to turn back Huntley
Huntley gave Hoffman Estates its best shot, but the Hawks survived. Kelsey Lukowicz and Destinee Young scored 10 points apiece and the Hawks' tenacious defense stifled the Red Raiders as the Hawks won 43-37 in nonconference girls basketball action at Huntley Saturday afternoon.
Huntley took its last lead at 26-25 midway through the third quarter. Hoffman answered with a 12-2 run to take its biggest lead at 37-28. But Huntley wasn't through. A 3-pointer by Cece Tsevas and baskets by Hillary Johnson and Kadie Lowery made it 37-35. After the teams traded free throws, Mary Pettit hit a layup to put the Hawks up 41-37.
After a Huntley miss, Lukowicz added 2 free throws for the final margin.
It was a tight defensive struggle all the way through. Hoffman Estates (17-4) blocked 4 shots and altered many others. Huntley was just as tough, forcing 22 Hawk turnovers.
"We played a conference game last night and I think we were a little bit tired," said Hawks' coach Michael Nocella. "We made a lot of silly mistakes. But I also have to give credit to Huntley. They played a very up-tempo game. Their energy level was a lot better than ours was."
Lowery and Carly Goede scored 9 points apiece to lead Huntley (10-11). Amanda Wisniewski had 6 points and 6 rebounds.
Young gave the Hawks a big lift off the bench. She had 11 rebounds to go with her 10 points. Pettit finished with 9 points, and Jada Stotts added 8 for Hoffman Estates.
"I thought our kids played a pretty solid game on both ends," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz. "The difference was the couple late runs that they made where they went up 8 in the fourth. We didn't match it. We made our own late run, but it was too little, too late. We ran out of time."
The Hawks jumped out to an 8-2 lead, but Huntley came back to tie it by the end of the first quarter. After that, neither team led by more than 3 until the Hawks' late run.
Led by Young, Stotts (7), and Megan Bernardoni (6), Hoffman dominated the backboards with a 33-19 rebounding edge.