Huntley upsets Cary-Grove
During his 12-year tenure as Huntley girls basketball coach, Steve Raethz has emphasized tough hard-nosed team defense.
That philosophy was certainly on display Saturday night.
Holding Cary-Grove's high-octane offense to 14 field goals and no 3-pointers, Huntley staved off a fourth-quarter rally by the Trojans to post a 46-35 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win in Huntley.
"I was really pleased with our collective effort on defense," said the veteran Huntley coach. "They have some good offensive weapons, but we played great team defense. It was a great team win against a great Cary-Grove team."
The win put the FVC Valley race in a 3-way deadlock as Huntley moved into a tie for the lead with Cary-Grove and Dundee-Crown.
Huntley (11-6, 4-1) looked to be in good shape when Samantha Andrews canned 1-of-2 free throws with 4:24 left to give the Red Raiders a 8-point 32-24 lead.
But Paige Lincicum tried to rally the Trojans. The senior guard scored 5 points as the Trojans went on a 7-1 run to cut the Huntley deficit to 2, 33-31, with 3:10 left. That was as close as the Trojans (11-6, 5-1) would get.
Andrews canned a 3-pointer and scored on a putback as the Red Raiders seized control of the game with a 5-0 run and 7-point 38-31 lead with 2:12 left.
Huntley sealed the win by making 7-of-10 free throws in the final 1:22. Andrews made 4-of-4 from the line and Abbey Shaw connected on 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
"I like the way we kept our composure when Cary-Grove made their run," said Raethz. "We knew Cary would make a run, but we maintained our poise and made some big shots."
Andrews paced Huntley with 17 points including a pair of 3-pointers.
"Cary-Grove is our number one rival and we always want to beat them," said Andrews. "Coach had us prepared and we kept our composure at the end of the game. This was a big win."
Shaw added 14 points as the duo combined for 31 of the Red Raiders' 46 points.
"We played with full effort for the entire game," said Shaw. "We were very prepared defensively. This was a great win."
Cary-Grove, which was 14-of-45 from the field for 31 percent and 0-of-13 from 3-point range, was led by Lincicum with 18 points. Olivia Jakubicek scored 7 points with 10 rebounds.
"(Huntley) deserved to win," said Cary-Grove coach Rod Saffert, whose team had a 16-game conference winning streak snapped. "We had our opportunities, but we didn't match their intensity for the entire game."
Westminster Christian 51, Elgin 50: Briana Hamilton and Porsche Griggs bring out the best in one another.
The best friends and former teammates played together on varsity when they were freshmen and sophomores at Elgin, but Saturday found themselves on opposing sides.
Both seniors, Griggs transferred to Westminster Christian, which was hosting the Maroons in nonconference girls basketball action.
The only thing that overshadowed Hamilton's 31-point, 13-rebound effort was Griggs nailing a wide-open layup with 2.7 seconds left to give the Warriors a 51-50 victory.
"We bring out the best in each other," said Hamilton, who notched her second straight career-high game after scoring 30 points in a win over Larkin on Thursday. "I'm happy for her to come back from so many injuries, I don't know if I could do that."
Hamilton had given Elgin, which was looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since January of 2009, a 50-49 lead when she drove the length of the court and burned the Westminster defense for a layup with 1:05 left to play.
The score would stand until Griggs found herself with a wide-open look at the basket and a chance to seal the win for the Warriors (13-5).
Sophomore Courtney Gnan could not connect on a 3-pointer from the left corner and Maroons' sophomore Tamara Milosevic came up with the rebound. The ball bounced around before a surprised Griggs had the ball and then made a layup. "I didn't even know (where the ball was), I had my back to the basket," Griggs, who finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds. "It just landed in my hands."
The teams exchanged the lead 6 times in the fourth quarter after Elgin (1-17) trailed by as much as 38-26 with 6:08 left to play in the third quarter.
Elgin then went on a 15-3 run finally tying the game at 41. Hamilton scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, but went 0 of 6 from the free-throw line. She did finish with 15 of the Maroons' 23 field goals and scored the final 8 Elgin points.
"We had to do a good job on Briana and keep her off the boards," Warriors' coach Ken Flickinger said. "We got a little rattled. She's going to make a lot of tough shots. She got on that little run where she was hitting a few."
Westminster built its early lead with a 23-point second quarter. Sophomore Claire Speweik scored 10 of her 15 points in the second quarter shooting 4 of 8 in the period. Sophomore Kinsley Donahue added 4 of her 9 points in the second quarter and Gnan added 3 steals and forced 2 jump balls.
"That second quarter stole a little of our energy," Elgin coach Dr. Nick Bumbales said. "Things just didn't go our way at the end. We didn't take care of the ball and missed some free throws."
Matt Stacionis