Clausen powers Huntley over Dundee-Crown
Morgan Clausen single-handedly led Huntley to victory.
Scoring 18 points including 12 in the second quarter, Clausen held Dundee-Crown standout center Allison Michalski to 2 points as the Red Raiders collected a 35-27 victory in Fox Valley Conference girls basketball action in Huntley Wednesday night.
Michalski scored on a driving layup with 1:11 left in the game for her only points of the game. Michalski, who was 1-of-8 from the floor, fouled out with 15 seconds left in the game.
"I was able to get some good shots in the post and I hit a couple of 3s," said Clausen. "I felt in a good shooting flow. Defensively, the game plan was to deny Allison the ball and make her work for her shots once she got the ball. We played very good team defense. We know we have to maximize our effort every game in the this conference. There are no gimmes."
Huntley coach Steve Raethz appreciated Clausen's performance.
"Michalski is a very talented, versatile player," said Raethz. "Morgan did a great job on her denying her the ball. After Allison got the ball we played very solid team defense on her. Morgan also came up big and made some big shots. Overall we did a great job defensively."
After a slow start in the first quarter, Huntley (7-6, 4-1), which led 7-5 after 8 minutes, accelerated offensively in the second quarter led by Clausen.
The Red Raiders, paced by 12 points from Clausen and a 12-footer from Madeline Moffett, started the second quarter on a 14-2 run and led 21-7 with 1:11 left in the first half.
A driving left-handed lay up by Paige Gieseke at the buzzer cut Huntley's lead to 21-9 at intermission.
Huntley's biggest advantage of the game was 29-14 after a putback by freshman center Janelle Allen with 6:18 remaining in the contest.
D-C (8-10, 2-4), which was hindered by 26 turnovers including 17 in the first half, was led by Gieseke with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Payton Schmidt canned a pair of treys for 6 points for the Chargers.
"Our goal is to hold teams to under 40 points so I am proud of our defensive effort," said D-C coach Sarah Miller. ''I am frustrated with our offense. We rushed our offense and didn't play with any patience. We didn't execute very well. We didn't play like we practiced. Huntley plays very physical defensively and they outworked us."