Huntley grinds out win over Cary-Grove

After a lethargic first half that produced only 12 points, 2 in the second quarter, Huntley girls basketball coach Steve Raethz was seeking a more inspired effort to start the second half.

The Red Raiders heeded their coach's words.

Trailing 17-12 at halftime, the Red Raiders outscored Cary-Grove 17-7 in the third quarter and went on to a hard-fought 36-30 win in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play in Huntley Friday night.

"We were a little disjointed in the first half," said Raethz. "Cary-Grove did a good job of switching defenses. They went from a 1-3-1 zone, to a 2-3 zone to a man to-man and we didn't handle it very well. Our focus and concentration wasn't very good. Our collective effort wasn't very good."

Huntley, which made only 3-of-26 shots during the first 16 minutes, sliced into the 5-point halftime deficit immediately, starting the third quarter on a 14-2 run. Ali Andrews, who only had 4 free throws in the first half, connected on 5-of-6 shots from the field in scoring 10 points. With the pivotal run, Huntley (14-5, 5-0) turned a 5-point deficit into a 7-point 26-19 advantage with 1:55 left in the third quarter.

Cary-Grove (8-10, 2-3) followed with a 5-0 run on baskets by Katie Barker and Katie Demert and a free throw from Candace Cunningham to cut the lead to 26-24 with 43 seconds left.

Kayla Barreto's 3-pointer to beat the buzzer gave Huntley a 29-24 lead after 3 quarters.

Huntley's lead soared to 9, 33-24, on a layup by Paige Renkosik with 6:22 left but the determined Trojans refused to quit.

Cary-Grove got to within 2 of the Red Raiders, 32-30, on a 5-footer by Jen Pilut with 56 seconds left. Those would be the last points the Trojans would score.

Huntley sealed the win by making 4-of-4 free throws in the final 30 seconds. Barreto and Renkosik made 2 each.

"I am not into moral victories, but we played really well defensively," said Cary-Grove coach Rod Saffert. "We kept switching defenses over and over and over and over again and kept them off balance."

Andrews paced Huntley with 14 points while Barreto scored 13 with 3 treys.

'We executed our plays better in the third quarter," said Andrews. "We had more open shots and were able to make some."

Katie Sowa and Cunningham scored 7 points each for Cary-Grove.

The combination of Madeline Moffett and Kaitlin Constantino held Barker, headed to Ohio University, to 6 points.