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Mitchell, Montini beat Geneva in final seconds

With 4.2 seconds remaining in Saturday night's Montini Christmas Tournament championship game and the score tied, Montini coach Jason Nichols just wanted to quickly get the basketball to midcourt and call a timeout.

Sam Mitchell had other ideas.

The closely guarded Montini junior guard leaned in and drew a foul before she could dribble to midcourt, then calmly sank the deciding two free throws with 1.9 seconds left in a 52-50 Broncos victory against defending Class 4A champion Geneva.

"I kind of knew, all right, we have four seconds, I'm going to keep it in my hands," Mitchell said. "I'm not going to pass it and risk the turnover, so maybe I'll just drive into her and see if it can happen because I knew we could give a foul but I knew I could go to the line if she fouled. And I knew the whole game she was kind of playing me tight, so I was like, all right. And then it worked."

Given the situation, it was a tough call.

"Refs are going to call what they're going to call," Geneva guard Stephanie Hart said. "I can't do anything about it. I don't know what they're going to call. I tried to play the best defense I could and I guess it didn't work in my favor that time."

Nichols, whose Broncos (18-1) placed third behind Geneva (13-1) in Class 4A last season, never did get his timeout.

"I'm actually lucky that it worked out that way," he said. "But overtime actually probably would have been good for the fans. They would have enjoyed that, right? I mean it was a pretty good game with two really good teams."

Mitchell's free throws were the culmination of a back-and-forth second half that saw five ties and 10 lead changes.

"It was one of the best games I've played (in)," Mitchell said.

It was also one of her best games. With forward Aaliyah Patty struggling because of early foul trouble, Mitchell stepped up and made 5 of her seven 3-point attempts, finishing with a game-best 19 points for Montini.

"I was feeling it today, and a big part of it was my teammates," Mitchell said. "They helped me get open, and today was my day. Today I was shooting well, so they fed it to me. When it's someone else's day, we do the same thing."

"What you do like about Sam," Nichols added, "is she does have guts. I mean, she's a pretty gutty player. She had a great game."

Montini post players Lindsey Jarosinski and Patty came caught fire in the fourth quarter as the teams traded the lead. Jarosinski finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Patty, the tournament MVP, wound up with 10 points.

"I think they just kind of honed in," Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said.

"The high-low was dominant tonight. It was great. They couldn't guard us," Nichols added.

Hart led Geneva with 17 points, adding 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

"Steph played lights out," Meadows said. "(We) struggled a little bit with their posts. I mean they're good. They have two great posts. But our kids fought and I'm super proud of them."

Margaret Whitley added 13 points for Geneva, and sophomore Lindsay Blackmore scored 10 off the bench, including the tying 12-foot jump shot from the left wing with 4.2 seconds to play.

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