Girls basketball: Big 4th quarter propels Huntley to FVC win over Burlington Central

BURLINGTON – Burlington Central sophomore guard Jordyn Charles buried a 3-pointer in the final minute of the third quarter Friday as the Rockets looked to make a move against Fox Valley Conference leader Huntley.

The Red Raiders held a one-point lead entering the fourth and simply took over.

Huntley was dominant on both ends of the floor, having its most productive offensive quarter and holding Central to 1-of-11 shooting.

Anna Campanelli, Cassidy Serpe and Paula Strzelecki had seven points apiece in the final quarter, and the Raiders pulled away for a 56-36 win in their FVC game. With the victory, Huntley (8-2, 6-0 FVC) remains undefeated in conference play and secured their 34th consecutive FVC win.

Huntley led Central 33-32 after three quarters and outscored Central 23-4 the rest of the way.

“We talked at the end of the third that we weren’t going to keep trading buckets with them,” said Campanelli, who led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting. “We needed to start getting defensive stops, and that would obviously lead to offense.

“We just had a lot of people step up, hitting big shots and dealing with [Central’s] pressure. It took everyone.”

In the fourth, Huntley allowed only a 3 from freshman Audrey LaFleur and a free throw from senior Emma Payton.

Payton, a 6-foot forward, led the Rockets with 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

Huntley coach Steve Raethz had Serpe, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, match up against Payton in the fourth quarter.

“[Serpe] stepped up and did a nice job in the fourth quarter with guarding Payton. She did a really nice job of kind of limiting her touches,” Raethz said. “[Payton] was really good for them for long stretches of that game. She was tough to guard.

“It was a great job by all of our kids. It showed a lot of mental toughness when some things didn’t go well for us. We bounced back and had a great fourth quarter.”

Serpe was second in scoring for the Raiders with 14 points and made two 3s. She has enjoyed more minutes this season as a starter after Huntley graduated eight.

Serpe said the new role has taken some getting used to.

“At the beginning, I was really stressed,” Serpe said. “I was scared to be on the court, but I have great teammates that helped me gain that confidence. Now I really enjoy being on the court.”

Campanelli has seen Serpe become a more impactful player for the Raiders.

“Guarding [Central’s] best player and being able to shut her down really helped us with our lead in the fourth,” Campanelli said. “I’m just really proud of how far she’s come with her confidence offensively and defensively.”

Strzelecki added 12 points and eight rebounds for Huntley, while Alyssa Borzych and CeCe Romano each had four.

Charles finished with nine points and three 3s for Central (5-5, 4-2), Emersyn Fry scored six points on two 3s, and LaFleur had five points.

Huntley scored the game’s first nine points and led 18-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Central, which never led, outscored the Raiders 15-8 in the second quarter to cut the lead to 26-21 at halftime.

Rockets coach Mike Carani felt his team ran out of energy.

“I felt like our girls were in the groove, they knew what to look for and what to attack,” Carani said. “I think they just ran out of gas. I felt good about where we were. It just kind of got away from us. ... We tried to match up on [Campanelli] with different girls to try and slow her down. I felt like we were effective at times. But she’s a great player and found ways to create and still get her points.”