Huntley set for matchup with top Wisconsin team
The Huntley girls basketball team is off to an undefeated start to the season and drew some votes in the first Associated Press Class 4A statewide rankings.
On Saturday, the Red Raiders will get a test of their early-season mettle against one of the top teams - and players - in Wisconsin.
Playing in the Chicagoland Invitational Showcase at Fremd - and in a prime time game - Huntley will take on Kenosha St. Joseph at 7:15 p.m.
"The whole month of December will be some really tough tests for us and Kenosha St. Joseph is a really good team," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz, whose team is 6-0 and will host Jacobs in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division game on Friday night.
Kenosha St. Joseph, with an enrollment of 850, is currently 1-0 for the season and ranked No. 5 in Wisconsin's Division 4. But even though it's a much smaller school than Huntley, the Lancers boast what Raethz calls, "one of the premier players in the country."
That player would be 6-foot-4 junior Sidney Cooks, an all-stater as a sophomore who averaged 14.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.1 blocks per game last season, and who has scholarship offers from virtually every major Division I school in the nation including UCLA, Florida, Maryland and pretty much the entire Big Ten Conference. Cooks is the No. 2 rated junior forward in the country and No. 9 player overall on espn.com.
In addition to Cooks, the Lancers return their other four starters from a year ago, when they went 20-5 but were upset in the sectional semifinals. Six-foot senior Jalah Harris (12.3 ppg. 7.8 rpg) is a four-year varsity starter in the post and the three-guard lineup features seniors Star Keene, Jacori Witt and junior Niara Collins.
"It's going to be a really good opportunity for us to play against a very talented team," said Raethz, who also noted that later in the month his team will again play in the Montini Christmas tournament, which is loaded with the state's top teams.
Senior Ali Andrews hasn't missed a beat in leading the Red Raiders so far this season. The 6-2 Illinois signee is averaging 22 points per game after tying her own school record with a 34-point outburst against Cary-Grove Wednesday. The school's all-time leading scorer, Andrews now has 1,938 career points. She gets valuable backup from senior point guard Kayla Barreto, 5-8 senior Paige Renkosik (10.2 ppg) and 6-1 junior Morgan Clausen.
"There's a lot of room to improve but I really like our efforts to start the season," Raethz said. "I like our team chemistry and the way things are chiming together for us."
Also at Fremd: The showcase at Fremd Saturday kicks off with a 10 a.m. game between Batavia and star senior Hannah Frazier taking on perennially tough Rolling Meadows. At 12:30 p.m., Harvest Christian will get a tough test against Class 1A power Annawan, which is off to a 4-2 start to the season and is ranked No. 2 in the AP poll. The Bravettes are led by Illinois State signee Morgan VanHyfte and sophomore forward Jayde VanHyfte, who reportedly has 20 Division I offers already. Harvest, also 4-2, is ranked No. 7 in Class 1A and is led by senior NIU recruit Paulina Castro, 6-2 senior Rachel Oostdyk and emerging sophomore Alyssa Iverson. Both squads reached the supersectional round in the state tournament last year.
The final game of Saturday's showcase, at 8:30 p.m., will pit St. Charles North, which was 3-0 heading into Thursday's game against Batavia, against Hersey, which is 6-0 going into its Friday game against Prospect.
Closing in: Burlington Central senior Shelby Holt is closing in on the 1,000-point mark for her career. Going into Friday's contest at Byron Holt, who is averaging 15 points per game for the 3-0 Rockets this season, has 959 career points. The Quincy recruit would become just the fifth player in program history to reach 1,000 points. BC is ranked No. 3 in Class 3A in the first AP poll of the season.
Also, Harvest Christian senior Paulina Castro, who played her first two high school seasons as a reserve at Montini, entered Thursday's game against Westminster Christian with 942 career points.