Ava McFadden’s hot shooting, versatility help Huntley pick up FVC-opening win against Cary-Grove

HUNTLEY – Ava McFadden has played a huge role in many big wins throughout her high school career at Huntley.

McFadden, a multi-year starter on Fox Valley Conference championship teams for both basketball and softball, is hoping her senior season turns out to be the best one yet.

On Tuesday, the sweet-shooting McFadden sank a team-high three 3-pointers and was one of six Red Raiders to connect from long distance in a 50-38 win against Cary-Grove in the FVC opener for both teams.

“We have five seniors, and all of us want something big,” said McFadden, who hits 3s in the first, third and fourth quarters and finished with 12 points. “We really [go] into these games like this is our last season together. It means so much to us and our younger teammates know how much it means. They want us to have our best seasons, too.”

Huntley (5-0, 1-0 FVC), which won all four games to claim the opening Dundee-Crown Thanksgiving Tournament, never trailed against C-G (4-2, 0-1) and jumped out to an 8-1 lead following a 3 and putback by senior guard Anna Campanelli.

McFadden put the Raiders ahead 11-3 on her first 3, and teammate Alyssa Borzych knocked down a 3 in the final minute of the first quarter for a 14-3 lead.

McFadden, who also chipped in two assists and two steals, said the team spends a lot of time working on their 3-point shots.

But the players enjoy getting an assist that leads to a big 3 just as much.

“We really work on 3s and we do a ton of shooting drills in practice,” McFadden said. “We love to get open looks for our teammates. A lot of us on the court are looking for assists. We really strive to get those open gaps to get those 3s.”

In addition to McFadden’s three 3s, Campanelli (game-high 17 points, five assists, four steals), Aubrina Adamik (seven points), Borzych (five points), Madison Diaz and Lana Hobday each made one.

Huntley coach Steve Raethz said McFadden’s offensive game started to take off in the second half of last season. That has carried over to this year for McFadden, who drew a tough defensive assignment Tuesday against 6-foot-2 forward Ellie Mjaanes (15 points, seven rebounds, three blocks), a Division I Lehigh commit.

“She’s very steady for us,” Raethz said. “And defensively, she’s so versatile. She can guard perimeters and she did a great job of guarding Ellie in the second half as well. We had a lot of different players step up and knock some shots down, and Cary-Grove is a really good team. They are going to be a force this year, and we’re just pleased to get that first conference win.”

Kennedy Manning collected eight points and five steals for C-G, Sam Skerl had seven points, including a buzzer-beating 3 before the half, and Malaina Kurth added six points. Manning had two 3s and Kurth, Skerl and Mjaanes each hit one.

Cary-Grove coach Tony Moretti felt Huntley’s defensive pressure early set the Trojans’ back. C-G trailed 24-17 at the half but couldn’t cut the lead any closer than six points the rest of the way.

“We didn’t rebound well on the defensive end and they got a couple of second-chance points that really hurt us,” Moretti said. “The gap would get down to seven or six and they’d hit a 3. They had one where the ball was tipped out, got a 3 out of it and put us down nine.

“We’ve just got to start games better. We were chasing eight or 10 early ... so we’ve got to come out ready to go.”

Huntley won its third straight FVC championship last year, going 17-1 in conference play with its lone loss to C-G.

“Getting that first [conference] win is really big,” said Campanelli, a Division I Kent State commit. “Cary-Grove brings a lot of energy, and I felt like our energy was really high today, too. They’re a really competitive team to start with, and I think it just helps us start the tempo high. It felt good to protect our home floor.”

Campanelli has taken on a bigger scoring role this season already, which included a career-high 32 points and nine steals in a 53-35 win over Boylan at D-C’s Thanksgiving Tournament.

But Campanelli is happy to have a helping hand or two, including her teammate in McFadden.

“I think her confidence has grown a lot,” Campanelli said. “I’m really proud of her. Even if a game isn’t going her way, she keeps shooting and keeps playing well.”