Huntley junior forward Samantha Andrews and her freshman sister Ali are used to playing with each other from travel ball with Midwest Elite.
It’s going to take some getting used to for the area teams that have to face Huntley’s elite duo this year, though.
Playing together Tuesday for the first time at the high school level, the two accounted for 34 points, 10 rebounds, six steals, two assists and a blocked shot in leading the Red Raiders to a season-opening 67-29 rout of Bartlett in a nonconference game at Huntley.
“We played together in ttravel so she’s pretty used to it,” Sam said of her younger sister. “It’s fun to play with her.”
Sam Andrews had 21 points while her freshman sister scored 13 points, had nine rebounds, four steals and a blocked shot. They staked Huntley to a quick 22-6 lead as Sam had 10 first-quarter points and Ali eight, and Bartlett never challenged.
“I think it’s a challenge,” Ali said. “We had to go hard from right at the beginning to get ahead.”
The Red Raiders forced 14 first-quarter turnovers with intense defense. They scored eight points off Bartlett’s first six turnovers in the first 3:25 of the game and led 10-2. The pressure kept intensifying and they forced 25 turnovers by halftime, going on to a 45-18 lead.
Ali Andrews wasn’t the only freshman making an impact for Huntley. Guard Kayla Barreto handled the ball well and scored seven points while doling out three assists.
“They’re two very composed players,” Huntley coach Steve Raethz said of his freshmen. “That’s why they’re up here. It was a really nice start for both of them.”
Raethz was happiest about the defensive intensity. “We wanted to set the tone and I thought they did a good job of setting that tone defensively,” he said.
Haley Ream contributed six points and nine rebounds for the Red Raiders (1-0).
Bartlett, third in the state last year, lost its top eight players to graduation and had four freshmen to go with plenty of inexperienced juniors.
“We didn’t take very good care of the ball,” coach Denise Sarna said. “Turnovers were the biggest problem. We came across a good team and have a lot of growing to do. Turnovers keyed it. We gave up a lot of shots, layups and then free throws based on the turnovers and transition game. A lot of things went wrong today.”
Bartlett (0-1) got five points each from Ashley Johnsona and Ally Giampapa but found getting shots off a difficult task.
“It seemed like we would get the ball and fumble and they would knock it out of our hands,” Sarna said.
“We have a lot of young kids and an injury we’re trying to work through — (senior center) Alyssa Hernandez is a stablizing factor for our team and has been out with a sprained ankle and she’s working her way back.”
Hernandez had four points and four rebounds in limited playing time.
