Huntley defense shuts down Cary-Grove
Huntley will have better offensive nights.
But the staple of the Red Raiders under coach Steve Raethz is defense and that was certainly on display Wednesday.
Holding Cary-Grove without a point for over 10 minutes bridging the second and third quarters, the Red Raiders' 17-0 run keyed a 45-31 win in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division girls basketball action in Cary.
"It was a great defensive effort collectively," said Raethz. "The kids had great awareness of the game plan and their responsibilities."
Even though the Red Raiders (5-3, 2-0) played great team defense, it was the effort of Maddy Moffett on Cary-Grove's Katie Barker that keyed the win for the Red Raiders.
Barker connected on only 4-of-12 shots from the floor in scoring 11 points.
"We gave Maddy some help, but it was mostly her defense on Katie," said Raethz, "She did a great job of limiting her touches and denying her the ball."
Moffett was aware of her defensive plan on Barker.
"I face guarded her the whole game and tried to deny her the ball," said Moffett. "Katie is a tough scorer and we shut her down as a team."
The Trojans (4-5, 1-1) tied the score at 9-9 on a 12-footer by Katie Sowa with 5:56 left in the first half. Huntley ended the first 16 minutes on a 9-0 run led by 7 points from Ali Andrews, who missed her first 6 shots. Led by 9 points from Andrews, the Red Raiders led 18-9 at intermission.
Huntley, the defending division champs, didn't lose any momentum during the 10-minute halftime break.
The Red Raiders came out of the locker room with an 8-0 surge. Andrews scored 4 points, and Kayla Barreto and Morgan Clausen each chipped in buckets as the Red Raiders led 26-9 with 4:02 left in the third quarter.
The Trojans, who missed 10 shots in a row during the Red Raiders' pivotal surge, finally broke their lengthy scoring drought on a long 3-pointer by Chrissy Sopchyk with 3:43 left in the third to make the score 26-12.
Andrews led Huntley with 19 points.
'We had trouble running our offense early," said Andrews. "Our defense was good all night."
Sopchyk backed Barker with 9 points with three 3-pointers for the Trojans.
"We played poorly and lost by 14," said Cary-Grove coach Rod Saffert. "It's no secret we need to find a second scorer behind Katie."
CL South 63, Dundee-Crown 48: Chanel Fanter had 18 points and 5 rebounds to lead the Gators (7-2, 2-0) to an FVC Valley win. Kiana Clark added 13 points for Crystal Lake South, while Taylor Jozefowicz scored 9, and Hailee Massie added 8 points and 6 rebounds. Jesania Laboy had 16 points to lead Dundee-Crown (2-7, 0-3). Creighton Fed added 12 points for the Chargers and Allison Michalski had 8.