Cary-Grove‘s Kennedy Manning had a hand in her face as the final seconds ticked away Monday night.

After a not-so-hot shooting night, Manning dug deep for one of the biggest shots of her career. She wasn’t the first or second option on the play, but the 5-foot-7 senior guard made it count just the same.

After the Trojans trailed for the first 31-plus minutes Monday, Manning made an off-balance 3-pointer on the run over Huntley’s Luca Garlin at the buzzer to send C-G to a 35-33 Fox Valley Conference victory, the team’s 13th win in its past 15 games.

The loss puts Huntley a half game behind Burlington Central, a 48-33 winner over Crystal Lake South, in the FVC standings.

Manning had a look of disbelief as she celebrated the shot and jumped up and down with her just-as shocked teammates. Soon after that, Mike Manning, a Trojans’ assistant coach and Kennedy’s dad, ran over and embraced his daughter in a big hug.

“When that went in ... I was not expecting that to happen,” said Kennedy Manning, who missed her first 10 shots Monday. “That was crazy. It felt really good, because, well, not many teams get the chance to beat Huntley. We beat them my sophomore year, which is probably my favorite memory of Cary-Grove basketball.”

Manning has a new favorite now.

“Kennedy, honestly, is one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever coached,” Trojans first-year coach Bryan Stortz said. “To a fault, almost, she’s hard on herself. It’s great to see her hit that and enjoy this moment.”

Huntley held C-G (18-6, 10-3 FVC) to single digits in each of the first three quarters (six, eight and five points), but the Trojans started to find some success over the last eight minutes.

Both teams struggled on offense throughout, similar to when Huntley (17-9, 11-2) beat C-G 38-26 in their first meeting Dec. 12.

The Trojans, too, were fortunate to have one last opportunity after coming up empty on their previous possession with 25.7 seconds to go. C-G missed a short baseline jumper, but Huntley threw the ball out of bounds after getting the rebound and rushing the ball up court.

That led to the Trojans’ final possession with 6.2 seconds left.

Aria Stanton inbounded the ball from the other side of the court to Malaina Kurth, who passed back to Stanton. After several dribbles toward the basket, Stanton was met by Huntley defender Alyssa Borzych. Stanton turned around and found Manning sprinting toward the corner.

Manning took the pass and, without the ball touching floor, buried the shot over Garlin, a former travel teammate and good friend of Manning’s.

“(Kurth) was the first option, we had a slip for Jayden (Sopata-Rahn), and then (Manning) coming off the back,” Stortz said. “Kennedy kind of shook loose at the end. They do a great job of defending, and she was just able to get a shot off and give us a chance.”

Huntley coach Steve Raethz felt his team played strong defense throughout the game, but the Raiders missed key chances on offense, including going 9 of 16 (56.3%) from the free-throw line.

“We were very close to getting the stop we needed. At the end of the day, you have to credit Kennedy for making a really tough shot at the buzzer,” Raethz said. “I know that the last plays of a game are magnified, but there’s a lot of things that went on throughout the game that, looking back, I think we could have done better.

“With five games left, this has to be put behind us quick. In a game like this there’s not a whole lot of time to lament it and feel sorry for yourself. We got to find a way to move on, and it starts in practice tomorrow.”

Manning called Kurth, who led all scorers with 18 points and four 3s, the game’s real hero.

“She drives like nobody else drives,” Manning said of Kurth, who was 6-of-12 shooting.

Cary-Grove trailed 25-19 going into the fourth quarter but felt good after holding Huntley to without a field goal in the third.

Kurth helped keep the Trojans in the game with nine first-half points and tossed in nine more over the final two quarters. Kurth tied the game at 29-29 on her fourth 3 with 4:06 remaining, but the Raiders went up 33-29 on back-to-back baskets from Lana Hobday and Evie Freundt.

A 3 by C-G’s Sopata-Rahn, her first field goal of the day, closed the gap to 33-32 with 1:49 left. No more points were scored until Manning’s buzzer-beater.

“Beating these higher-ranked teams like Huntley, I think gives us the confidence boost we need to finish the season strong against some tougher teams like Burlington Central and Hampshire,” Kurth said. “This was really big for us.”

Manning ended with eight points for C-G, and senior forward Olivia Leuze added four points and 10 rebounds.

For Huntley, Freundt had nine points, 12 rebounds and two blocks, Garlin chipped in seven points and five steals, and Hobday and Kara Giordano tallied six points apiece.