Huntley claims third straight regional title

It is hard to win by shooting 24 percent from the field with 23 turnovers.

But Huntley's girls basketball team won its third straight regional title and first in Class 4A with hard-nosed stifling defense.

Holding Rockton Hononegah to 1 first half basket and 22 percent shooting for the game, top-seeded Huntley overcame a sub-par shooting performance to defeat the third seeded Indians 40-34 in the championship game of the Class 4A Woodstock

regional Friday night.

"Our defense in the first half and in the fourth quarter was tremendous," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz. "We struggled defensively in the third quarter, but played great on the defensive end for three quarters. We didn't shoot the ball well, but we were able to overcome a lot of adversity and play through it. We maintained our composure at the end of the game when Hononegah made a run at us."

The Red Raiders (18-11) advance to play Rockford Boylan (29-1) in one semifinal of the Jacobs sectional Monday night at 6 p.m.

Both teams struggled mightily from the field in the first half Friday. Holding a slim 10-7 lead with 2:52 left in the first half, the Red Raiders caught fire and scored the final 13 points.

Huntley canned three 3-pointers in the final minute, two by Sammy Oslance and one from Kadie Lowery as the Red Raiders led 23-7 at halftime. The Indians made only 1-of-19 shots from the field during the first 16 minutes.

"Those 3s at the end of the half were huge," said Raethz. "We were struggling with our shooting but those 3s gave us some momentum going into halftime."

Hononegah made a steady run at the Raiders in the second half and tied The game at 32 on a 3 by Lindsay Carroll with 1:08 left.

But a basket and 2 free throws from Amanda Wisniewski and a putback from Hillary Johnson sealed the win for Huntley.

Johnson, who was stellar at both ends of the floor, scored 13 points with 12 rebounds and 6 blocked shots.

"It was a very physical game," said Johnson. "I was able to get some easy shots on offense and I got good position on defense and was able to block some shots. This is an amazing feeling to win the regional."

Wisniewski added 10 points for the winners. Carroll was the lone Indian in double digits with 13.