A night of milestones at Huntley
The milestones came in triplicate Tuesday night at Huntley.
At the top of the list came the Red Raiders' girls basketball team coming from behind to beat Crystal Lake South 61-50 on Senior Night to complete an undefeated Fox Valley Conference Valley Division season, Huntley's first FVC title in girls basketball.
Add to it the accomplishments of Huntley sophomore Ali Andrews and Crystal Lake South senior Sara Mickow and you had yourself one of those banner nights.
The 6-foot-2 Andrews, who came into the game with 990 career points, muscled in a layup over two defenders with 1:33 to play in the first half to become the fastest girl in Huntley history to reach 1,000 points. She got to it just a bit quicker than her senior sister Sam, who also scored her 1,000th point this season. Ali Andrews finished the night with 21 points, 10 rebounds, 6 blocks and 5 assists.
And not to be lost on the accomplishments of Huntley and the Andrews sisters was Mickow, already CL South's career rebound leader, who pulled down 11 more Tuesday to become the first Gator girl to reach 1,000 career rebounds.
The game itself belonged to the Valley champs once they shook off a slow start, something coach Steve Raethz knows his team will have to do when the postseason kicks in next week.
"We found a way to rise to the occasion but we have to a better job of getting off to a better start," said Raethz, whose team will play at Grayslake North Friday in the FVC crossover "championship" game.
"Credit South. They casme out ready to go and knocked some shots down. I don't think we did a real good job of locating their shooters in transition but we did a nice job of regrouping."
The Gators (15-12, 8-4) hit 7 of 13 from the field in the first quarter in breaking out to a 16-9 lead as Huntley shot just 4-for-14.
South maintained a 7-point lead after a Mickow basket with 5:07 left in the first half made it 21-14, but Huntley diversified its offense and immediately got back into the game.
First, Ali Andrews scored in the paint at the 4:54 mark to make it 21-17. Then she dished back-to-back assists to freshman reserve Abbey Brown, who finished with 8 points, also in the paint. After two ties and two lead changes, Sam Andrews (14 points, 4 assists) buried a 3-pointer to put the Red Raiders (23-3, 12-0) on top 30-27, a lead they never relinquished.
Leading 32-29 early in the third quarter, Huntley went on an 8-0 run to take a 40-29 advantage after two Sam Andrews free throws with 4:22 left in the period. The Gators never got closer than 8 the rest of the way.
"We just started playing as a team and started working the ball around better," said Ali Andrews. "I don't think we came out ready in the first quarter and that's happened to us a couple of times. We can't let that keep happening. We need to come out and play our game."
Andrews credited her teammates and her own hard work for reaching 1,000 career points.
"It feels good to know all the hard work I've put in with my teammates has paid off and I can celebrate it with my teammates."
And with a certain sister.
"We both work out together and we work hard on and off the court," Ali said. "It's special to share this with my sister."
Sophomore Kayla Barreto added 9 points and 4 assists for the Raiders, who also got srrong efforts off the bench from junior Kaitlin Costantino, freshman Morgan Clausen, sophomore Paige Renkosik and junior Jessica Brock as well as senior starters Bethany Zornow and Rachel Zobott, who were honored with Sam Andrews before the game.
For CL South coach Kyle McCaughn, the game came down to missed opportunities.
"The free throw line killes us," said McCaughn, whose team was 10-for-20 from the line. "We played real well right from the start but then we had a lull in the second quarter and Huntley is too good to have lulls against. We kept fighting but it was uphill the rest of the way. But I give our kids a lot of credit for fighting all night."
Mickow led the Gators with 15 points. Chanel Fanter added 13 and 5 assists and Rachel Rasmussen scored 11 points. Kianna Clark pulled down 10 rebounds for CLS.