Gulczynski's buzzer-beater lifts Bartlett past Huntley
Bartlett junior Jacki Gulczynski has played a lot of basketball in her life, but never had she hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer.
Until Thursday, that is.
Gulczynski's 6-footer from inside the paint rolled around the rim and then through the basket, giving the Hawks a thrilling and improbable 47-45 come-from-behind win over Huntley in a nonconference girls basketball game at Bartlett.
"I saw when we inbounded the ball that we had seven seconds left and I thought Nicole (Beck) would pass the ball back to me," said Gulczynski, who was being watched Thursday by a coach from Northern Illinois University.
"I just knew I needed to take it to the basket."
Thursday's game was a tale of two halves, but if not for the last 2 minutes of the first half, the Hawks (6-4) may not have had enough in the tank to come back.
Huntley (4-3), playing without injured leading scorer Kadie Lowery, commanded most of the first half and held its biggest lead at 31-11 after a basket by Taylor Henning-Fletter with 2:50 left in the second quarter.
But Bartlett went on an 8-0 run to end the half down just 31-19, and the Hawks had found their energy.
"We've had trouble this season with shaky starts," said Bartlett coach Denise Sarna. "Huntley's a good team and we didn't play with the intensity coming out that we should have. But the highlight is that we didn't fold up. We came back at the end of the half and 12 (points) is much more manageable than 20."
After Henning-Fletter scored to open the third quarter, Bartlett went on a 12-0 run as Gulczynski started to heat up. She scored 6 points in that run and after scoring just 2 points in the first half, she finished with game highs in both points (17) and rebounds (18).
"More than anything it was a combination of their intensity and pressure," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz. "They had a much better purpose in the second half and we didn't maintain our composure. We let them back in it."
The Hawks finally forged the game's first tie when sophomore Kristin Conniff buried a 3-pointer from the top of the circle to make it 34-34 with 1:59 left in the third quarter. A Gulczynski runner in the lane and another Conniff basket with 22 seconds left gave the Hawks a 38-35 lead after three quarters.
Huntley was able to get its game back for a short time early in the fourth quarter, as CeCe Tsevas and Carly Goede led a 8-0 run that gave the Red Raiders a 43-40 lead with 4:12 left in the game. But again Bartlett came back and this time the Hawks grabbed a 45-43 lead when Gulczynski put back her own miss with 2:24 to play.]
The teams then exchanged turnovers and missed shots until Amanda Wisniewski tied it for Huntley with a jumper in the lane with 7 seconds to go. But, hoping for overtime, the Red Raiders couldn't stop Gulczynski's game-winner as the horn went off and the Bartlett bench celebrated.
"Our bench fired us up the entire way," Gulczynski said. "They really helped us on the court tonight."
After shooting a paltry 7 of 27 in the first half, the Hawks came back to make 12 of their 22 field goal attempts in the second half. Meanwhile Huntley, after going 13 of 29 in the first half, was just 4 of 25 in the second half. The Hawks also outrebounded the Red Raiders 43-30 with Christina Carlson adding 8 boards for Bartlett.
Haley Videckis contributed 10 points for Bartlett, while Goede (5 steals) had 11 points to lead Huntley. Wisniewski and Tsevas each had 10 points for the Red Raiders.
"We just didn't close the deal," said Raethz, whose team opens Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play at home Saturday against Crystal Lake South. "We had our chances to score. We just need to learn to close out games and maintain leads. That's been a trend for us so far."