Huntley looks for a better sectional final result this time around

There won't be many secrets Thursday night when Huntley's girls basketball team takes on Rockford Boylan at 7 p.m. for the Class 4A Rockford Guilford sectional championship.

The Red Raiders and Titans met a year ago at Crystal Lake South with the same piece of hardware on the line and Boylan prevailed 54-39 in a game the Titans took control of with a 15-3 run to start the second half. Their leading scorer in that game was graduated Jensen Blassage, who had 16 points. Likewise Huntley's leading scorer that night with 13 points, Sam Andrews, has moved on to college basketball. Boylan held Huntley's Ali Andrews to 12 points in that contest.

Fast forward to the championship game of the MLK Tournament at DeKalb on Jan. 19 of this season and a 48-43 Huntley win, a game in which the 6-foot-2 Illinois-bound Andrews (21.3 ppg) scored 20 points 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. Senior Halle Stull had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Boylan.

"There's some familiarity from the sectional final last year and DeKalb this year," said Huntley coach Steve Raethz, whose 8th-ranked team is 27-4 and seeking a program record for wins in a season for the second straight year. "They're a really solid team that's really good at all five positions. They pass the ball well and they have players who can put it on the floor and score around the basket."

That would include the 6-foot-1 Stull, 5-10 senior Emily Crouch and 5-11 sophomore Bridget Bishop among others. Those three combined for 27 points and 22 rebounds in the Titans' 65-43 win over Dundee-Crown in Monday's semifinals.

But equally adept at scoring are Boylan's guards. Senior Kayla Steward lit up D-C for 21 points including three 3-pointers Monday night and junior Jessie Schiro added 7 points.

"They're very solid on the perimeter," said Raethz, whose team is seeking its second sectional title in three years. "Steward shoots the 3 really well. We'll have our hands full with them. The game at DeKalb was a well contested game that hung in the balance until the last couple of minutes. I anticipate another good game in which both teams will play hard.

"Last year's loss was disappointing. Our kids put a lot into preparing for that game. We want to do everything in our power to reverse that. I'm really proud of our kids for what they've accomplished this season and we're excited for the challenge."

Veteran Boylan coach Paul Perrone knows that slowing down Huntley, which has won 20 straight and 24 of its last 25, starts with limiting Andrews, the Red Raiders' all-time leading scorer who now has 1,747 career points. But Boylan (24-8) will also have to be aware of not only Barreto (9.5 ppg, 51 3-pointers) but junior Paige Renkosik (4.4 ppg), who hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the Raiders' 44-40 semifinal win over Crystal Lake South, and sophomore Morgan Clausen (6.1 ppg).

"Huntley's a great team and has one of the best post players I've ever coached against," said Perrone. "We'll have to work hard on defense."

Raethz says the keys to his team advancing to Monday's Hoffman Estates supersectional to face Fremd or Hersey will be on the boards and defense.

"We have to keep them off the glass and we can't allow second-chance opportunities," he said. "It's going to be really important for us to maximize our possessions and we need to play solid team defense."