Straumann, Cary-Grove roll on
Had someone told Huntley girls basketball coach Steve Raethz before Tuesday’s Class 4A Jacobs sectional semifinal game against Cary-Grove that the Trojans’ Claire Jakubicek wouldn’t score a field goal until the fourth quarter, and her sister Olivia would be held scoreless all night, Raethz probably would have felt pretty good about his team’s chances to pull the upset.
Not on this night.
And that’s because senior Megan Straumann stepped up big-time, scoring a game-high 19 points, and the Jakubiceks did their damage in other ways as the Trojans rolled to a 57-37 win and their first sectional final berth since 2001.
The Trojans (27-3), who have won 14 in a row, will be seeking their first sectional title since 1989 when they take on Geneva (24-6) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The winner then gets either Barrington or Zion-Benton in the Barrington supersectional next Monday. Geneva beat Hononegah 70-60 in Tuesday’s second semifinal.
Geneva eliminated Cary-Grove from the postseason last year, 48-41, in the sectional semifinals.
“It feels amazing,” said Straumann of advancing to the sectional finals. “I want it for (coach Rod) Saffert, I want it for this team and I want it for me. We have to do it.”
Straumann certainly did it Tuesday. With Claire Jakubicek struggling shooting, and Huntley sagging its defense to deny her the ball, the 5-foot-6 floor leader took control of the game early on, and then again when the Trojans put the Red Raiders (20-10) away.
She scored 7 of her points in the first quarter as the Trojans bolted out to a 13-7 lead. Her steal and assist to Joslyn Nicholson gave Cary-Grove its first 10-point lead of the night at 28-18 with 55 seconds left in the half.
Then, with Huntley making its only serious run of the night, and trailing just 35-32 after a Carly Goede 3-pointer with 57 seconds left in the third quarter, Straumann hit a short jumper on an inbounds play and made 2 of 3 free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with 0.4 seconds left. That gave the Trojans a 39-32 lead going into the fourth quarter and Huntley never got closer.
“Megan took over,” said Cary-Grove coach Rod Saffert. “She knows she can do that every game if she wants to. Claire was a little frustrated but hey, we’re winning and that’s the bottom line.”
Claire Jakubicek did manage 13 points, getting to the free throw line 11 times and making 9. And she credited Straumann with stepping up as needed.
“If we’re going to go where we want to go this season she has to hit those shots and tonight she did a great job,” said Claire Jakubicek of her classmate.”
Cary-Grove’s defense and rebounding was equally as tough as its proficient offense. Huntley committed 20 turnovers and the Trojans, led by 12 from Claire Jakubicek and 10 from Olivia Jakubicek, won the rebounding battle 33-22.
“It doesn’t matter what you do offensively,” Claire Jakubicek said. “Defense gets it done.”
Paige Lincicum played a steady game with 10 points for C-G, while Johanna Geegan had 9 and Nicholson 6. Seniors Kadie Lowery and Carly Goede, playing in their third sectional in the last four years, led Huntley with 12 and 10 points respectively.
“I thought we did a good job of converting back on defense but we didn’t do a good job on the glass tonight and we had way too many turnovers,” said Raethz. “Too many times we didn’t convert on the offensive end. We played hard but we didn’t execute the way we needed to to beat a team of Cary’s quality.