Domination. That was the theme of this weekend for sports fans.
On Sunday, the nation got to see the Eagles crush the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. On Monday, Feb. 10, Huntley got to see our Red Raiders girls varsity basketball team decimate the McHenry Warriors. With a final score of 72-6, it was quite the game to watch and a good one to play.
“We play for each other and we care about each other. That leads to really positive things,” senior player Anna Campanelli said.
The first half of the game was electric. Huntley came out swinging with aggressive play. This game was a clinic on how to stay on top of a game. Routinely stuffing the Warriors and consistently taking away the ball was the story of the defense.
“We had a lot of different players stepping up tonight,” Campanelli said.
Rebound wins, steals, and blocks ensured that McHenry couldn’t get any momentum. On offense, the ball rarely returned to the opposing hands without scoring. The Raiders had 11 three-pointers in the first half, all beautifully swishing through the rim.
Multiple times the game looked like football with long bomb passes down the length of the court. Raider Nation helped boost the atmosphere with their roaring cheers and chants that bordered on insults. In the quarter break, Raider Nation cheered on kids like they were stars when in reality they were taking fun shots on the towering nets.
At the half the game was 46-6. Now, attendees could have decided to leave, because the game was as good as over.
The Raiders came back to the second half even more aggressively and scored on their first possession. McHenry would not score a single point the entire second half. This crushing victory maintained the undefeated season of the girl’s team, who are now 29-0. They now have a great opportunity to win the conference title on Feb. 12.
“We have a really good defensive team and we have a lot of players that can shoot the ball,” coach Steven Raethz said. “I’m really happy that we got a win for our seniors on senior night,”.
Wrapping up with a beautiful senior night ceremony with players giving small speeches about their graduating teammates.
“I’m sad that I will not get to play with [seniors] next year, but I know [they’ll] do great things in college. I’ll miss [them],” junior Gwen Cambell said.
And with that, this victorious evening ends. While Huntley got to celebrate, we can only imagine how quiet the bus back to McHenry was.
