Huntley looking forward to MLK challenge at DeKalb

Huntley girls basketball coach Steve Raethz has made it very clear the past few seasons that he wants his team to see the toughest competition possible outside of its Fox Valley Conference schedule.

Raethz got the Red Raiders into the Montini Christmas Tournament, now considered the toughest girls Christmas tournament in the state, and last year the Raiders competed in - and won - the ultra competitive MLK Tournament at DeKalb.

Huntley (15-3), whose losses all came in a row in the last 3 games at Montini, is the No. 4 seed in this year's DeKalb tournament, which opens Saturday with 2 games for each of the 16 teams and concludes Monday. The Red Raiders take on Belvidere North at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and then will play either Peoria Notre Dame or Hinsdale Central at 1:30 p.m.

Unbeaten Rockford Lutheran, which started the week 13-0 and is ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, is the top seed with Rock Island (16-2, No. 6 in 4A) and Stevenson (14-3, No. 10 in 4A) the 2-3 seeds. Huntley beat Stevenson in the title game last year.

"It's definitely a competitive tournament," Raethz said. "We had some success there last year winning the tournament and that helped us down the stretch. We'd love to have the same outcome this year, but it's also about playing some quality teams and we're excited for the opportunity. Playing at Montini served the same purpose. We played four really good teams there and we get the same opportunity at DeKalb."

The injury bug has hit Huntley a little, most notably with the loss of junior Abbey Brown, the first girl off the bench, who tore an ACL against Bolingbrook. Junior starter Paige Renkosik sat out the Cary-Grove game earlier this week with a minor injury but Raethz said he's hoping she'll be able to play this weekend.

"Losing Abbey is a big blow to our team and she's just a great kid," said Raethz of Brown, who will also miss the soccer season while rehabbing. "It's forcing other players to step up and Lexi Lowitzki had a nice game against Cary-Grove.

The Red Raiders continue to be led by the steady play of senior Illinois signee Ali Andrews (22.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 2.4 apg) and senior point guard Kayla Barreto (6.2 ppg) and Raethz has been pleased with the continued progress of junior Morgan Clausen (8.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and Renkosik (9.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg).

"Morgan Clausen has really done a nice job," Raethz said. "She has improved her scoring, her rebounding and her shot blocking. She's doing a lot of positive things for us, as is Paige, who is a really hard worker and very steady."

Big weekend on tap: In addition to the MLK Tournament at DeKalb, the 26th annual Subway Classic (formerly the McDonald's Shootout) is Saturday and Monday at Willowbrook High School. Geneva takes on Prospect at 2 p.m. Saturday while Burlington Central (13-1), ranked No. 7 in Class 3A, will battle Hersey (15-3, No. 7 in 4A) in the 8 p.m. prime time game. Hersey, which plays Rolling Meadows Friday night, is coming off a 48-46 upset win over New Trier.

Batavia (15-4) will play on Monday at 5 p.m. against Fremd (16-2, No. 4 in 4A).

City Classic: The Elgin City Classic began Thursday night and will continue Friday at Westminster Christian with Elgin taking on Larkin and Westminster playing Harvest Christian. The tournament concludes Saturday at Harvest with Larkin playing Harvest and Elgin facing Westminster.

Sleepless nights: How hard did St. Charles North coach Sean Masoncup take Tuesday's 57-40 loss to Geneva?

"I got an hour of sleep and watched film at 1 a.m.," said Masoncup, who liked how his team bounced back 24 hours later in a 71-36 win over Larkin.

"I'm very excited by how they came back. They weren't hanging their heads but they weren't being goofy. They were focused and wanted to get a job done. The ball movement was much better."

There's nothing Masoncup would like better than to take down Geneva, and not just to get a win over his alma mater. He knows the Vikings are the standard the rest of the Upstate Eight River schools are trying to reach.

"They're a great program," Masoncup said. "For the last 10 years, with coach (Gina) Nolan and coach (Sarah) Meadows, they have just continued to be a factor. And until somebody steps up and says, 'Hey, it's time,' they're going to continue to do this. And we need to make sure that we try to get to that level. That's our whole goal, is to get to where they're at."

The North Stars won't have to wait long to get another chance. They play Geneva again next Tuesday and know exactly what they need to improve on to better attack the Vikings' zone.

"We didn't pass fake, we didn't use the short corner," Masoncup said. "We'll be ready for anything they throw at us. We'll have three good days of practice.

"That's (ball movement) what's key. They can pack in a zone for two or three passes but if you are able to use the short corner, skip it over a zone, move it to the high post, you are going to be very successful against a zone because there are going to be openings. We are going to be ready."

Center of attention: The North Stars need to come up with an answer for 6-foot-2 Geneva center Grace Loberg, who had 20 points and 13 rebounds in Tuesday's win.

Loberg, who will play college volleyball at Wisconsin, has as busy of a schedule as anyone. Last Saturday, after playing a morning game for Geneva at Fremd, Loberg headed to the volleyball court and played 14 sets over the next two days for her club team.

There's no doubt if Loberg would have picked basketball she have an equally bright future college future. Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said after Loberg debuted on varsity as a freshman at Montini's Christmas Classic two years ago, she had four Division I coaches from major programs ask her who her new center was.

Meadows had to disappoint all those college basketball coaches by telling them Loberg would be playing volleyball at the next level. Yet Meadows has all the respect in the world for Loberg continuing to play multiple sports in high school especially as she sees more athletes choose to focus on one sport.

"She's a great example of, 'You can do more,' " Meadows said.

New shootout: Aurora Christian is hosting its first Martin Luther King Weekend Shootout on Saturday.

"We are starting small and we are hoping to expand the field next year," coach Burney Wilkie said.

On Saturday at 6 p.m. Newark will play the No. 6 ranked team in Class 1A, Cissna Park. At 7:30 p.m. Aurora Christian takes on Seton Academy in a rematch from last year's Class 2A Lisle sectional.