Huntley survives Jacobs upset bid

Updated: March 23, 2011 9:38AM

It didn't meet Huntley's normal standards, but at least escaping an upset with a 36-33 victory Wednesday over the Jacobs girls allowed the Red Raiders to stay within a game of the lead in the Fox Valley Valley standings.

"We didn't play Huntley basketball," said Meagan Flynn, who came off the bench to score a team-high 11 points and help the Red Raiders come from behind in the fourth quarter.

Playing without top guard Carly Goede due to an ankle sprain, the Red Raiders struggled to hit easy shots from the field before Jacobs' pesky zone defense started causing some real problems. But Kadie Lowery stepped to the line with 19 seconds left and drilled two huge free throws for the final victory margin.

Then the Huntley defense forced Melanie Schwerdtmann into two well-defended three-pointers that missed the mark to end the game.

"It was kind of like an ugly ballgame," Jacobs coach Keith Chuipek said. "Usually we play the ugly side and the other team the good side, but they maybe played a little ugly tonight, too, without their best player.

"So it gave us an opportunity, and we took it right down to the wire. It was a good thing for us."

Jacobs (3-19, 2-6) trailed 33-30 with two minutes left but Lauren Grady (seven points) hit a layup for the Golden Eagles, then Rachel Chapius made one of two at the line for Huntley to make it a two-point lead.

Schwerdtmann, who led Jacobs with 14 points, had the chance at the tie with 1:29 left but missed the second of two foul shots. After both teams traded turnovers, Lowery sank her clutch foul shots to help lift Huntley to 15-6 overall and 6-1 in the FVC Valley, a game behind Cary-Grove in the loss column.

"I've been struggling with free throws," Lowery said. "I was pretending like I was in our gym and shooting free throws at the end of our practice and that helped a lot. I just had it in my head, step up and make it, and I knocked them down."

Lowery had all eight of her points in the second half, and made two huge assists on passes to Flynn for layups to start the fourth quarter when Jacobs went on a 6-0 run after falling behind 27-25. She also made a 15-footer in the run.

"Meagan Flynn gave us a great spark off the bench tonight and she added a real spark for us in that second half, and Rachel Chapius really battled tonight on the boards for us (10 rebounds)," Huntley coach Steve Raethz said.

The Red Raiders kept missing short shots in the first half and at one point in the second quarter were 5-for-25 from the floor (20 percent). They wound up 13-of-54 (24 percent). But Jacobs had problems handling the ball against Huntley pressure all night, committing 30 total turnovers.

Huntley could get Goede back next week if all goes well with her ankle. The Red Raiders had beaten Jacobs 65-28 earlier with her.

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