Campanelli leads Huntley past Burlington Central, Raiders close in on FVC title
Huntley junior guard Anna Campanelli has played some of her best basketball during the second half of the season, posting some of her biggest scoring games of her high school career and leading the Red Raiders closer to a conference championship.
On Friday against Burlington Central, Campanelli did it all for Huntley, scoring a game-high 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting and getting her teammates involved early and often.
Campanelli tallied seven assists, with six in the first half, and grabbed five rebounds as the Raiders pulled away from the Rockets for a 68-41 Fox Valley Conference win in Huntley’s last home game of the season.
The win secured Huntley’s fourth straight season with 20 wins and moved the Raiders (20-6, 14-1 FVC) closer to their third straight FVC title with three games remaining. Hampshire trailed Huntley by a game entering Friday but lost to Crystal Lake Central 55-46 in overtime.
Huntley will try and wrap up the FVC next week on the road against McHenry, Prairie Ridge and Dundee-Crown.
“It’s just been coming to me in the flow of the game and my teammates have been finding me,” Campanelli said. “We’ve put in a lot of hard work to get here. We have one more week to finish it out.”
Huntley coach Steve Raethz said Campanelli’s increased scoring and overall play has come as she’s developed into a bigger offensive threat and gained more confidence.
“She leads our team in scoring and assists and she’s really elevated her game at a lot of different levels this year, both offensively and defensively,” Raethz said. “She’s learning how to score from all three levels on the floor. She’s got great court vision and does a nice job of finding her teammates.”
One teammate Campanelli was able to find twice for assists was freshman Alyssa Borzych, who made two 3s in the first half and finished with eight points. Borzych has grown into a bigger role for the Raiders and gives them another threat from long range.
Borzych wasn’t sure if she would make the varsity team as a freshman, but those nerves at the beginning of the season are starting to disappear.
“I was so happy to find out I was going to get to play with such great girls,” said Borzych, who made 3 of 4 shots. “Since eighth grade, I’ve always looked up to them. ... It was a big confidence booster that the coaches thought I was good enough to play with them.”
Campanelli remembers what it was like to be a freshman on varsity.
“She’s definitely grown a lot and I think her confidence has grown a lot, too,” Campanelli said. “Playing with older and stronger girls, I think that’s definitely helped her develop her game. She’s playing really well. I try to be there for her, just like the girls were for me.”
Nine players scored for Huntley, which shot 47.3% (26 of 55) from the field.
Junior Ava McFadden finished with nine points and three steals, junior Paula Strzelecki added eight points and six rebounds, and senior Cassidy Serpe (three steals), junior Madison Diaz and sophomore Aubrina Adamik tossed in six points apiece. Adamik hit two 3s.
Central (13-11, 9-6) was led by senior guard Savannah Scheuer with 10 points and two 3s. Senior Emersyn Fry had eight points and two 3s, and freshman Audrey LaFleur and senior Emma Payton (six rebounds) had seven points each.
The Rockets have a tough last stretch of games, starting on Saturday with Sycamore. Next week, they face a few of the top teams in the conference, including Cary-Grove and Hampshire. Central also has a tough road matchup at 22-win Batavia.
“Huntley plays incredible pressure defense,” Carani said. “They really had us locked down and were not giving our girls any space. We’re going to be running into some strong competition. I want them to show me that they’re willing to fight and compete for all four quarters. We have some tough challenges coming up but teams I think we can still match up.”