Montini manages to hold off St. Charles North

Gazing across the landscape of Illinois Thanksgiving girls basketball tournaments, you would be hard pressed to find many with a better level of competition than Whitney Young's.

Wednesday night's final matchup pitted Montini against St. Charles North, two of the area's more competitive teams.

Though the Broncos admittedly didn't play their best game, they were able to hold off the North Stars 53-50 in Chicago to improve to 3-0.

"Here's the deal: We did not play well," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "I didn't think we had any energy, (and) we didn't play with any intensity."

The Broncos started out playing well on both ends of the court, staking themselves to a 12-8 lead after one quarter. The North Stars refused to go away, though, and very rarely did either team hold a lead larger than 4 points all game.

"We held our own. When it's all said and done, I think we matched up perfectly with them," St. Charles North coach Katie Sauber said. "I don't think there was a better team."

The North Stars held their largest lead of the game in the third quarter, going ahead of Montini 34-29 with 3:47 left to go. St. Charles North headed to the fourth quarter with a 1-point lead before struggling with Montini's defensive pressure.

After watching his team play sluggishly through three quarters, Nichols decided it was time to attack St. Charles North defensively. The North Stars managed just 16 points across the game's final 11:47.

Had St. Charles North coped better against the Montini pressure, Sauber could have left Chicago with a win.

"I think what it came down to was that we had a two-minute stretch where we turned over the ball a little bit too much," Sauber said. "We weren't able to connect on our free throws.

"I think this says a lot about our team," Sauber added. "This is the best competition we have ever seen, and for them to realize that they walked onto this court and held their own and competed and lost by (3) says so much. It's hard for me to even put into words."

"This tournament was designed for one reason and one reason only -- for regionals. We need to surround ourselves with the best competition as possible."

Montini stayed balanced on offense all night, with three girls scoring in double digits. Junior Kelsey Smith paced St. Charles North with 17 points.