Huntley claims DeKalb tourney crown

DeKALB - You'd be hard-pressed to find a better confidence builder than the one the Huntley girls basketball team found on Monday.

Or, better yet, the two the Red Raiders found.

With little time to rest after a scintillating buzzer-beating win over Stevenson in the semifinals, the Red Raiders again used the fourth quarter heroics of junior standout Ali Andrews to help defeat Rockford Boylan, 48-43, in the championship game of the DeKalb MLK tournament at Chuck Dayton Gymnasium.

"This was a tough test for us in this tournament and the kids responded well," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz, whose 18-4 team has now won 10 straight and 15 of 16. "Hopefully we can use this as a springboard to finish out the season."

The Illinois-bound Andrews, who scored 31 points in the win over Stevenson, came back with 20 more in the title game including 7 in the fourth quarter, when she made 4 of 4 from the free throw line in the final 13 seconds to seal the win. She along with junior guard Kayla Barreto (14 points, four 3-pointers) played the final 6-plus minutes of the game with four fouls.

"You just have to make a conscious effort to play smart," Andrews said.

Another nip-and-tuck game throughout saw little separation until late in the third quarter when sophomore Morgan Clausen (8 points, 11 rebounds) scored to make it a 34-28 game in Huntley's favor going into the fourth period.

But Boylan (14-7) went on a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter and tied the game at 34 on 2 free throws from senior Hale Stull (20 points, 10 rebounds) with 5:43 left to play. From that point, there was never more than a 3-point lead either way until Huntley, leading 44-43, was able to get Andrews to the line twice in the final 13 seconds.

"Our kids did a nice job grinding out stops defensively and we did just enough offensively," said Raethz, who credited senior Kaitlin Costantino and sophomore Madeline Moffett for their defensive performance.

"Ali hit some big jumpers, had a couple putbacks and then did a nice job knocking down her foul shots at the end."

Each team struggled to shoot well against stifling defense on both ends of the floor. Huntley was 16-for-44 (36 percent) and Boylan was 16 of 57 (28 percent). Huntley outrebounded the Titans 34-31.

While the win may not avenge a season-ending loss it does bode well for Huntley's confidence as the postseason draws nearer.

"I like how our team is coming together," said Raethz, whose squad was eliminated in the sectional finals by Boylan last year. "We've been in a lot of tough situations between the Montini (Christmas) tournament and this tournament and this is going to do nothing but help us moving forward."

Added Andrews: "Boylan is a really good team. We took it at them and this will help our confidence even more."