Huntley knocks off Bolingbrook
Huntley girls basketball coach Steve Raethz expects a lot out of senior Ali Andrews.
With his team missing the services of senior point guard Kayla Barreto (illness), Raethz asked even a bit more from Andrews Saturday afternoon.
The 6-foot-2 senior responded in a big way, scoring a game-high 28 points with 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals to help lead the Red Raiders (12-0) to a 53-43 triumph over Bolingbrook (3-4) during the first round of the 7th annual Montini Christmas Tournament in Lombard.
Andrews also was asked early and often to help handle the basketball against Bolingbrook's full-court pressure defense.
"She was put into a unique situation today," said Raethz of the Illinois signee. "Bolingbrook does such a great job with its pressure that we needed to relieve some of the pressure off our guards. She had to be almost like a point forward for us and she did a great job."
Bolingbrook used a 12-2 run to take a 16-9 first-quarter lead as the Red Raiders connected on just 3 of their first 13 field-goal attempts.
Jnaya Walker scored all 7 of her points in the opening period for the Raiders, who still led 23-17 at the intermission.
"I thought that Bolingbrook was the aggressor in the first half," admitted Raethz. "They forced us into some turnovers and we lacked some toughness on both ends of the floor."
Huntley turned things around quickly in the third quarter, thanks to a 13-0 surge that included 6 points from Andrews, an offensive rebound putback by Morgan Clausen (8 points), and back-to-back buckets from Abbey Brown (6 points).
"Even though we didn't have Kayla (Barreto), who is a big help to our team, everyone needed to step up and people did that," said Andrews. "We were rushing our shots in the first half. In the third quarter, we came out pretty strong and did what we usually do."
Madeline Moffett (7 points) added 5 consecutive points late in the third quarter and a pair of 3-point plays by Andrews in the fourth quarter helped secure the victory.
"I thought we handled the ball a lot better (in the second half) and we were more efficient offensively," said Raethz. "Our bench stepped up. I thought Kaylee Andrea gave us some nice minutes and Maddie Moffett did some nice things defensively for us."
Talia Edwards finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds for Bolingbrook, which committed 8 of its 18 turnovers while being outscored 20-8 in the third quarter.
"They just outworked us," Bolingbrook coach Chris Smith said of the Red Raiders.
Huntley faces Hersey (11-1) in Monday's quarterfinals.
"It's going to be a really tough game," said Raethz. "The quality of depth in this tournament is unbelievable this year."