Huntley, Andrews beat Stevenson at the buzzer
DeKALB - Stevenson forced Huntley junior Ali Andrews to do something not many teams make the talented Red Raiders standout do Monday and Andrews was more than up to the challenge.
The 6-foot-2 Illinois recruit usually dominates the paint but the Patriots concentrated their interior defense on Andrews in the second half, pushing her to the perimeter. Not only did Andrews respond to the challenge, she did so in game-winning fashion, and with Illinois associate head coach Mike Divilbiss looking on.
With the game tied 48-48 and 5.2 seconds to play, Andrews took an inbounds pass from teammate Madeline Moffett, took the basketball down the right sideline, then pulled up and banked in a 14-footer at the buzzer to give the Red Raiders a dramatic 50-48 win in the semifinals of the DeKalb MLK girls basketball tournament at Chuck Dayton Gymnasium.
Huntley moved its record to 17-4 for the season by winning for the ninth straight time and the 14th time in its last 15 games. The Red Raiders take on Rockford Boylan at 7:30 p.m. today for the championship after Boylan defeated Hinsdale Central 58-40 in the other semifinal.
Andrews scored 31 points in the win, 17 of them in the second half when she also hit all three of her 3-pointers.
"You just have to be confident," said Andrews of hitting the game-winning shot. "You know you have your team with you and you just have to go up strong. I like to be able to be an all-around player and go outside and knock down 3s. It opens things up for my team."
In a game that would match the intensity of any state tournament game, there were six ties and six lead changes, four of each coming in the fourth quarter. Huntley was able to battle back from an 8-point deficit late in the third quarter as Andrews buried two 3-pointers in the final 1:06, including one at the buzzer, to send the game into the fourth quarter with Stevenson leading 38-35.
The fourth quarter was simply classic - at least for the Red Raiders, who forged ahead 46-45 on a Paige Renkoski basket with 1:39 left and then 48-45 on 2 Andrews free throws with 12 seconds to play in regulation, after Stevenson missed a shot with 1:06 to go, Moffett rebounded and Huntley was able to play keep away for 54 seconds.
But Stevenson senior Melanie Despinich banked in a long 3-pointer from just off the right corner to tie it at 48 with 5.2 seconds to go, setting up Andrews' heroics.
"That was a fun game to watch and be a part of," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz. "It was well played on both ends and I'm really pleased with the way we responded after getting down eight in the third quarter. And what a clutch shot from Ali. We had to move her out to the perimeter to get her more touches because things were getting bottled up in the middle and she had a huge game knocking down some 3s.
"It was a good win against a really good team. We knew how talented they were at all five spots. We knew this would be a real challenge and we were excited for that challenge."
Junior Kayla Barreto added 9 points for Huntley, all on first half 3-pointers. The Red Raiders were 19 of 43 shooting and outrebounded Stevenson 27-19, led by 8 from Andrews and 5 from Moffett. Sophomore Morgan Clausen added 6 points and 5 rebounds.
Senior Sophia Way led the Patriots with 20 points and Despinich added 12. Stevenson again played without senior Taylor Buford, who is out with an ankle injury.
"Everybody's going to remember the end but we made some huge offensive and defensive mistakes in the first half," said Stevenson coach Tom Dineen. "They had two kids score all their points. We went to a gimmick defense at the end and we played it well but they had some kids knock down some shots.
"The kids battled and I'm proud of the effort. I thought (freshman) Skylar Blackstock did very well in her first start and I'm not questioning their effort at all but we made some mistakes in the first half that came back to haunt us."