A record opening night for Huntley's Andrews
Ali Andrews did not appear to be on her way to making history by missing her first 4 shots and not scoring for the first 6½ minutes of the Huntley girls basketball season opener Wednesday night.
But the early returns for the 6-foot-2 junior and Illinois recruit were deceiving as Huntley hosted the first-round game of the Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving Tournament against South Elgin. Andrews scored a school-record 34 points as the Red Raiders finally pulled away in the final three-plus minutes to a 58-45 victory.
"I was just playing the game of basketball," Andrews said modestly after surpassing her career-best of 28 points and the 32 points by Sam Mader in 2003.
Andrews' jumper with 1:38 to play gave her the record and capped a personal 8-point run that finally put away the stubborn Storm. She shot 12-for-21 from the field and 9-for-9 on free throws, had 12 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 assists.
"Ali stepped up and made some big baskets," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz as his team overcame a 7-0 deficit and took the lead for good on Andrews' pullup jumper with 1:12 left in the first quarter.
"Every time we made a nice run, Ali's Ali, the kid is unbelievable," said first-year South Elgin coach Dan Mandernack. "She would pull them out of any rut. We'd go to our Vegas 'D' which is trapping and she's a tough guard.
"When Ali's hitting 3-pointers and 16-footers that's a tough break. She didn't get easy baskets."
South Elgin didn't make it easy, either, with 5-6 junior sparkplug Nadia Yang (8 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) setting the tone. Sophomore Mackenzie Kelleher scored 6 of her team-high 9 points in the final 2:27 of the third quarter and Cara Fahey found Delaney Kelleher for a 3 to cut an 11-point deficit to 42-38 with 7:17 to play.
"There were a ton of positives," said Mandernack after his team committed only 7 of its 24 turnovers after halftime. "Our kids were battling and they really wanted it and they believed. They really stayed together in adverse times."
So did Huntley as Andrews responded with a short driving turnaround on the baseline and then found junior guard Kayla Barreto (11 points) for a 3. Sophomore Morgan Clausen (7 points, 11 rebounds) hit a 3 to make it 48-38 with 5:25 left.
"South Elgin did a nice job of making some runs at us," Raethz said. "To our kids' credit they did a good job of weathering the storm and creating some runs that got the lead back to a reasonable cushion throughout the game."
South Elgin had a chance to get within 5 points but missed both free throws after Andrews picked up her fourth foul with 3:58 left. Barreto's left-side drive started a 10-1 tear to a 58-42 lead.
"You have to play smart and play through it," Andrews said of the late foul trouble. "I thought we all shared the ball pretty well at the end. We all played really well collectively."