High school sports roundup for Sunday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, Feb. 27

The Crystal Lake South Gators logo.

Crystal Lake South started its longest week in a strange basketball season in a favorable way on Sunday at McHenry.

The Gators, who have been quarantined because of COVID-19 since Feb. 19, defeated McHenry, 49-36, on Sunday afternoon in their Fox Valley Conference boys basketball game.

Most of the team could not attend school and Gators coach Matt LePage had practices via Zoom conference. The players tried to run and shoot outside to stay sharp.

Despite all that, South (2-3, 2-2 FVC) came away with a victory against the Warriors (3-5, 2-4), who just won games on Friday and Saturday.

“I liked the way we played in the second half,” LePage said. “We had 13 turnovers in the first half. It was a little sloppy coming off a long layoff, but we played with great defensive energy and really rebounded strong as a group.”

South managed to take a 23-22 lead at halftime, even with the high turnovers number. The Gators committed only two turnovers in the second half.

“In the second half, we did a much better job breaking the press and getting some good attacks on the back end,” LePage said.

Isaiah Kirkeeng and Brock Jewson each scored 13 points to lead South. Arnav Jain and Cooper LePage added nine points apiece.

Anthony Fowler topped McHenry with 13 points. Matt Gallimore scored 11.

South has games for the next five days, as it was able to reschedule the games missed during quarantine.

“I was worried about their legs, how they’d shoot in a live game and turnovers,” Matt LePage said. “Of course, we come out with 13 first-half turnovers, but we only had two in the second half. From 13 to two is obviously a better number. I was happy with our defensive energy. We played well, four quarters of pretty good defense.”

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

Huntley 61, Marengo 55: At Huntley, Ben Ahmer hit five 3-pointers and scored 22 points as the Red Raiders defeated the Indians in their nonconference game.

Huntley (5-3) got 17 points from Aiden Wieczorek and 11 from Daniel Cruz.

Marengo (6-1) was led by Matthew Volkening’s 19 points. Josh Bibbings scored 18 and Michael Jennett added 11.

Richmond-Burton 34, Grant 33: At Fox Lake, Jake Barthel’s three-point play with 4.3 seconds remaining gave the Rockets (8-1) their fifth consecutive win.

Barthel scored on a layup and was fouled, then stepped to the line and made his free throw. Blake Volkmar scored 12 points to lead the Rockets and Nick Legnaioli added seven.

Burlington Central 60, Kaneland 33: At Kaneland, the Rockets (9-1) had little trouble notching a win on the road thanks to 11 points and six rebounds from Nick Carpenter. Zac Schmidt added 10 points and six rebounds for Central.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Huntley 50, Sycamore 44: At Sycamore, Carley Faulkner scored 19 points and made 10 of 10 free throws as the Raiders improved to 6-1 with a win over the Spartans.

Kamsi Nwogu added 11 points, Raquel Radermacher had eight points, and Jessie Ozzauto tossed in six for Huntley.

Burlington Central 60, Butler Prep 51: At Burlington, the Rockets improved to 8-1 overall this season with a win over Butler College Prep.

Elana Wells scored 21 points in the win for the Rockets, while Becca Carani added 13 points and Taylor Charles scored five points, nabbed 12 rebounds and made five blocks.

Grayslake Central 52, Woodstock 26: At Grayslake, Celia Tafoya and Natalie Morrow each scored seven points as the Blue Streaks (1-7).

Tahj Bloom led the Rams with 16 points, Monica Schleg added 14.

South Beloit 38, Alden-Hebron 29: At Hebron, the Giants fell to the Sobos in Northeastern Athletic Conference play. Abby Wanderer led A-H (1-7, 1-7) with 11 points. Karly Strand tossed in nine.