Cary-Grove claims FVC Valley outright
Senior Night is always a special night for any senior basketball player.
It becomes an even more special night when a senior player who doesn’t always score a lot has their one of the best games of their lives and helps clinch a divisional championship.
On Saturday night, that senior was Cary-Grove’s Alyssa Lee. Lee scored 12 of her game-high 14 points in the second half to lead the Trojans to a 41-29 win over Huntley at Elroy Fitzgerald Gymnasium and give C-G its third straight Fox Valley Conference Valley Division championship.
Cary-Grove (16-8, 10-1), which will play at Dundee-Crown Tuesday and then at Grayslake Central next Friday in the FVC crossover 1st place game, jumped out quickly on the Red Raiders, scoring the first 10 points of the contest and held Huntley without a field goal for the first 11 minutes of the game. Huntley (12-12, 6-5) would rally however and pull within 14-12 by halftime before tying the game early in the second half. The Trojans, though, would score the next 12 points to put the game out of reach. For Cary-Grove’s two seniors, Lee and Paige Lincicum, it was a night to never forget. Lee said that the team brought their best game with a chance at the conference title and in their last home game of the season.
“I knew it was the last home game and me and my teammates stepped up,” Lee said. “We really kept the intensity up and played together. It was a good game. I love my team, they are my best friends. I’m so glad I got to share this experience with them.”
Lincicum added that some adjustments were made after a sluggish opening half.
“In the first half, we only had a couple of people rebounding and we talked about it at halftime and everyone ended up getting boards,” Lincicum said. “It was a team effort.”
Joslyn Nicholson added 10 points for the Trojans. Huntley was led by 17 points from Sam Andrews and coach Steve Raethz said that he was happy with his team’s defense on the night but simple mistakes led to the loss.
“It was a defensive stalemate there in the first half and both groups were really physical in the half-court,” Raethz said. “I thought we did a good job of weathering the storm on the initial run they had when they went up 10-0. I was really pleased with our effort defensively but in the second half, we turned the ball over way too much.”