Girls basketball: Huntley withstands the pressure, tops Burlington Central to take back FVC lead

Huntley’s Aubrina Adamik helped set the tone well before the start of Monday’s pressure-packed game against Burlington Central.

The 5-foot-6 senior with many big shots to her name this year had to deal with an enthusiastic Rockets’ student section during pregame warmups, so Adamik played into it.

“Yeah, yeah, I gave them a little look-back,” Adamik said of swishing a pregame 3-pointer and flashing a smirk toward the playful student section amid the innocent heckling.

Adamik, and the Red Raiders, handled the pressure well all night.

In a must-win game for Huntley, the Raiders came out on top 53-39 at Rocket Hill to take the lead in the Fox Valley Conference race with two games to go.

A Burlington Central win would have clinched at least a share of the conference title for the Rockets (20-9 overall, 14-3 FVC).

Instead, it’s now Huntley (20-9, 14-2) that controls the conference race with games left against Hampshire and Prairie Ridge. Central wraps up its FVC schedule Wednesday at Jacobs.

The Raiders are going for their fifth straight FVC championship. The Rockets last won conference during the COVID-19-shortened season in 2021.

“There was a lot of pressure, but I know that my whole team has each other’s backs,” said Huntley junior Lana Hobday, who had seven assists and helped hold Rockets junior guard Audrey LaFleur to four points. Each (Huntley) team that came before us puts in the same kind of effort, and I think every one is very deserving. I think this team is far well-deserving, too."

Adamik led the Raiders with 14 points and two 3-pointers, sophomore forward Evie Freundt had 12 points and eight rebounds and Alyssa Borzych added nine points and a 3. Junior Sara Bruns came off the bench and scored six points in the second half, while junior Lainey Flaws hit a big 3 in the first half after the Rockets’ Jordyn Charles made a 3 to cut Huntley’s lead to one. Luca Garlin added seven points and three steals.

The Raiders took a 23-17 lead at half and extended it to 40-26 after three quarters. Huntley held Central to 3-of-15 shooting in the second and third quarters combined.

“Despite being in some foul trouble in the first half, I thought our girls and our bench did a great job,” said Huntley coach Steve Raethz, who has 501 career wins. “We had some players like Lainey Flaws come in and hit a big 3. Sara Bruns had a great game today. I thought we did a really good job of guarding to end the half, and to start the second half we talked about trying to come up with consecutive stops and get scores on the other end.

“Offensively, I thought we did a nice job of sharing the ball and playing the open player. This is a really nice win because (Central) is a really tough team. It’s all hands on deck for these next two games. Got to enjoy this one but at the same time be ready to go for the rest of the week.”

Central coach Mike Carani fully expected a challenge in facing Huntley.

“I think the defense they were playing, right up in our face, we weren’t getting in the open lanes or getting open looks,” Carani said. “Huntley, their defense is solid. They’re extremely disciplined and we knew we were going to face that coming in. We tried to do some things to get some movement, and I feel confident with these girls in their skills to go one-on-one, but they play tremendous help defense, too. Even if we got to the lane, there were three that were crashing down.”

Charles, a senior, led the Rockets with nine points on three 3s, while junior Julia Scheuer and freshman Scarlett LaFleur had eight points apiece. Senior Ashley Waslo finished with six points.

Audrey LaFleuer felt Huntley’s defense flustered her side. Central was held to five points in the second and nine in the third.

“Huntley has a great defense, but I think we can have a better offense as well,” Audrey LaFleur said. “I think their ball pressure kind of frustrated us, and then we kind of it turned it over too much and rushed our passes. We needed to be calm, especially me. We can’t be startled by the pressure.”

The Raiders know they can’t enjoy Monday’s win for too long.

“(Assistant coach Clay) Henricksen was like, ‘This is a great win, but as soon as we get on the bus it’s over,’ ” Adamik said. “We know what has to be done. We’re going to get at it at practice tomorrow and give our best the rest of the way.”