Huntley tops Palatine to make it 4-0

Huntley’s girls basketball team remains unbeaten and its dominance in close games continues as the Red Raiders beat Palatine 56-48 Saturday at the Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving Tournament.

Up by just a point at halftime, the Red Raiders (4-0) trailed by as much as 4 in the third quarter before sisters Ali and Sam Andrews took the game over, scoring 31 of the team’s final 37 points.

Ali Andrews, who had 21 points in the game, got it started for Huntley in the third. After missing all of the second quarter in foul trouble, and 5 of her first 6 shots in the third, Ali Andrews made 5 straight buckets including 2 3-pointers to surge ahead of the Pirates.

She finished with 14 points in the quarter and 16 in the second half.

Not to be outdone by her sister, Sam Andrews took over in the fourth as Palatine (2-2) tried to mount a comeback. Missing her first shot from the field, she found the bottom of the net on 2 deep 3-pointers and finished with 14 points in the quarter.

For the game Sam Andrews had 22 points and went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.

“Sam knocked down a couple real big buckets when we needed them in the fourth quarter,” Huntley coach Steve Raethz said. “Our kids did a nice job running a couple of sets where she was able to get open at the top of the key and hit two huge buckets.”

Evan after a cold start to the game, where Huntley only made 30 percent from the field, Sam Andrews knew that her team could dominate if just given the chance.

“We knew we could dominate,” she said. “We knew we just had to bunker down, work as a team and get the job done,”

At the other end of the floor, the Pirates’ offense did not match the defense in the first half, holding Huntley to 19 points while only scoring 18.

But, like the Red Raiders, Palatine was able to heat up after halftime thanks to Sami Heuertz and Morgan Radtke, who each had 11 points.

“We were doing a great job trying to get to the basket trying to get to the rim,” Palatine coach Mark Johnson said. “Even late in the game when we were just trying to extend the basketball game, trying to make things happen, we where doing a great job.”

In the fourth it was Radtke who led the Pirates with 7 points in the quarter and went to the line six times.

Johnson likes what he sees from the senior.

“She has the ability to take the game over, and I think we kind of saw that she’s close to learning how to do that,” he said.