Huntley 40, Hononegah 34: Huntley cheered so loudly the Red Raiders could be heard in the adjacent locker room. The Red Raiders had just snapped out of a 5-for-29 shooting slump with three consecutive 3-pointers in the final minute of the half to open up a 16-point lead.

“We heard them cheering already,” Hononegah junior Erin Ryczek (nine points) said. “That’s what drove us. We kept telling ourselves it’s not over. We weren’t satisfied how we played the first half and we were going to fix it.”

The Indians did fix it, but it came a tad too late in Friday’s 40-34 loss in the Class 4A girls basketball regional finals.

Hononegah (16-15) drew even at 32-all midway through the fourth quarter, but then went scoreless for nearly four minutes, leaving the Indians in tears.

“The pain of losing a game like that after the comeback is unbelievably unbearable,” senior forward Lindsay Lengjak (10 points) said. “Knowing this is the last game I’m going to play with these girls is heartbreaking. This game hurts so bad just because it’s over.”

The mid-game turnover mirrored No. 3 seed Hononegah’s mid-season turnaround. The Indians finished 12-4 after a 4-11 start.

“They improved all year,” Hononegah coach Randy Weibel said. “When you have coachable kids who soak everything up, that’s what should happen.”

Hononegah shot only 1-for-19 the first half (and 5-for-16 on free throws) as No. 1 seed Huntley (18-11) blocked six of the Indians’ first nine shots. But Lengjak, Ryczek and Lindsay Carroll (11 points) combined for 21 points in a 25-9 run in the opening 12 minutes of the second half to tie the game.

Hononegah then missed two chances to take the lead and Hillary Johnson (13 points) put the Red Raiders ahead to stay with a 10-foot turnaround in the lane.

“It stinks being so close,” Lengjak said, “and having it ripped out of your hands.”

-Matt Trowbridge, rrstar.com