Defense is key for Huntley in triumph over Prairie Ridge
What could have been a nightmare turned into nothing but sweet dreams for the Huntley girls basketball team Wednesday night.
Playing a conference opponent for the third time is never easy, especially when it's a regional game, you're the top seed and you've already beaten the opponent twice.
Huntley was faced with that situation at the Class 4A Woodstock regional but the Red Raiders broke out one of their best defensive games of the season in a 51-22 win. It was the lowest point total Huntley has allowed in a game this season.
The Red Raiders (17-11) will be seeking their third straight regional championship and first in Class 4A at 7:30 p.m. Friday when they take on Hononegah, which defeated Woodstock 66-62 in overtime in Wednesday's second semifinal.
"We were well aware of all those pitfalls," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz of playing the Wolves for a third time. "We expected (Prairie Ridge) to come out and play hard and with nothing to lose. I was very impressed with the way our girls played tonight on both ends of the floor. The defensive effort was one of the best of the year. We had really good defensive intensity."
That intensity helped contribute to a woeful shooting night for Prairie Ridge (11-19). Even though both teams got off to a slow start, Huntley led 9-2 after one quarter and 30-8 at halftime as PR made just 3 of 26 field goal attempts in the first half. Things didn't get any better for the Wolves in the second half as they finished the game 8 of 53.
"We did not have a good shooting night and all the credit goes to Huntley," said PR coach Steve Rick. "Huntley plays great defense."
The Red Raiders also turned it up offensively in the second quarter and at one time led 24-2. Their biggest lead was 50-18 with 3:06 left in the game, long after the benches had been cleared.
"I thought we got into a nice rhythm tonight, especially in the first half, and we got some nice contributions off the bench," Raethz said.
Hillary Johnson led Huntley, which shot 20 of 44 for the game, with 14 points, and Allyson Stellmach added 13.
"We knew they were looking for revenge so we just focused on our defense and everything turned out well for us," Johnson said.