Huntley repeats as FVC Valley champ
Ali Andrews has never been all about herself.
The fact the Huntley junior passed up shot after shot in the fourth quarter Tuesday night while trying to get her teammates involved in the Red Raider offense is just one piece of proof of that.
A greater testament to the team-first player Andrews has become is her stat line in the Red Raiders' 53-33 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division girls basketball title-clinching win over Crystal Lake South at The Swamp in Crystal Lake.
The shots Andrews passed up could have tied or broken Samantha Mader's school career scoring record. Andrews scored a game-high 23 points, leaving her 2 points shy of tying Mader's record of 1,655.
But what makes the 6-foot-2 Andrews the complete package the University of Illinois can't wait to get into orange and blue is everything else she does, such as her 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocked shots in the win over the Gators.
"What can ya do? She's four inches taller, she can jump higher and you can't deny her the basketball," said CL South coach Mark Mucha. "She's going to get her average no matter what you do and that's why she's the best player in the area. She's just a great athlete."
Andrews came out on fire and it looked like she might get the 25 points she needed in the first half, if not the first quarter. She hit her first three shots, one of them a 3-pointer, as the Red Raiders (23-4, 9-0) jumped out to a 7-2 lead and were never threatened in winning their second straight division title.
"It means a lot," Andrews said of the conference title. "We've been working really hard in practice to play as a team. That's been our focus."
Huntley's defense applied relentless pressure all night, helping the Gators (18-8, 8-2) to 24 turnovers that turned into 33 points.
"We did a great job defensively, especially in the second quarter in amping up the pressure and that made it difficult for Crystal Lake South to get shots," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz, whose team went on a 16-4 run in the second quarter to open up a 33-14 halftime lead.
And on the offensive end, Huntley was efficient with four players scoring points in the quarter. Junior Paige Renkosik, who finished the night with 7 points, nailed a 3-pointer with four seconds left in the half on a feed from Andrews.
"Our players did a nice job of knocking down shots," said Raethz. Madeline Moffett, Kayla Barreto ... and that 3 Paige hit gave us some momentum into the second half."
The closest the Gators would come in the second half was 16 and Huntley's biggest lead was 25, 46-21, after a Barreto basket with 43 seconds left in the third quarter. Barreto (4 steals) scored 8 points and sophomore Morgan Clausen added 6 for the Red Raiders, who were 20-for-46 shooting on the night.
"It's a great accomplishment for our team and I'm really proud of the kids' effort tonight," said Raethz of winning the conference title. "But we still have business to take care of. We want to finish with a perfect conference season."
For Andrews and Huntley that final piece to the regular-season puzzle is a Wednesday night home game against McHenry. It's senior night and should also be the night Andrews becomes the school's all-time scoring leader, not that she'll be very concerned about it.
"Just keep playing the game and play as a team," she said. "I'm not really worried about it."
Chanel Fanter led the Gators with 11 points and Kianna Clark added 8.
"Our kids played four quarters," Mucha said. "No matter the deficit they were still busting their butts. We fought and we'll build off the positives. This is a good game for us to get ready for regionals."