Montini winning streak hits 11 after downing Driscoll
Montini played like a bomb with a long fuse.
The Broncos scored only one basket in the first six minutes of their Suburban Catholic Conference girls basketball game against Driscoll on Saturday afternoon.
But when the fire eventually reached the end of the wick … kaboom! Host Montini exploded on a 33-4 run to close the first half on the way to a 64-35 victory in Lombard.
Sophomore center Michala Johnson led all scorers with 22 points in less than three quarters of action for Montini (14-4, 6-0).
The Broncos have won 11 straight.
"The start of the game we were not ready at all -- the whole team," said Johnson," who shot 8 of 9 from the field and made all 6 of her free throws. "I don't know where we were. But after awhile we found our momentum."
Both teams came out in a collapsing zone defense to limit each other's center -- 6-foot-3 Johnson and Driscoll's 6-4 sophomore Courtney Lindfors.
The Highlanders (14-4, 5-3) held a 5-2 advantage late in the first quarter on an inside bucket by Bridget Delboccio and a Kasey Reaber 3-pointer.
"I was kind of surprised," Montini coach Jason Nichols said about his team starting slowly. "We had stressed getting off to a quick start because they've been playing well. It just didn't happen, and then in the second quarter and the third quarter we just kind of dominated them."
Johnson sparked Montini's offensive explosion with 4 points, then the Broncos hit Driscoll at full force with their press. Senior guard Cootie Leeberg cranked up the defensive pressure, converting steals into layups on back-to-back plays.
Montini took a 35-9 cushion into intermission after Driscoll turned the ball over 23 times in the first half.
Highlanders coach Steve McCuiston thought his club could hang with Montini in a half-court game but didn't know how it would fare in a full-court affair.
"The question was how well we'd handle their pressure, and obviously the second quarter proved that we couldn't handle it very well," McCuiston said. "They're a fast team, quick, long arms, and they get a lot of hands on a lot of balls."
Leeberg finished with 11 points, 5 steals, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
Driscoll freshman guard Allie Divito totaled a team-high 12 points off the bench.
-- Dave Miller
Naperville North 57, Glenbard East 46:ŒNaperville North coach Jay Wachtel said his team played its most aggressive game of the season.
Not the type of aggression where his team is being very physical and committing silly fouls, but instead a team that is calculating what it is doing, playing with good basketball intelligence. That philosophy worked as the Huskies beat Glenbard East 57-46.
After the Rams took a short-lived 2-0 lead, the Huskies (3-15, 2-5) responded with an 18-0 run. Haley Krentz scored 11 of her team-high 17 during that span, which included a 16-2 lead after one quarter.
Elizabeth Erb eventually stopped the 18-0 run with a layup on the right side, giving the Rams (7-11, 1-6) their first points in a 9:21 span.
"We played good man-to-man defense in the first half," Wachtel said. "Anytime you hold a team to 2 points in a quarter, you did a really nice job pressuring the ball. You should be in pretty good shape the rest of the way, and we were."
The Huskies' biggest lead of the game was 20 points but Kelsey Taylor managed to make things somewhat close in the fourth quarter, a quarter where the Rams outscored the Huskies 21-15, as she scored 13 of her game-high 21 points in the final period. She scored 19 of her 21 in the second half.
"Kelsey was doing all that she could tonight to keep us in the game," Glenbard East coach Nicole Miller said. "Unfortunately we had a lot of unforced turnovers and they were able to get a lot of fastbreak baskets during that 18-0 run. It was frustrating."
Both teams were sloppy with the basketball, combining to commit 65 turnovers, 33 by Glenbard East.
"I didn't realize there were that many turnovers; I'm glad we won the turnover battle," Wachtel joked.
The Huskies' Kaelyn Witkowski chipped in with 13 points and 8 rebounds, while Lauren Quinn came off the bench and scored 7 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the win.
-- Jason Watt
Glenbard West 36, York 31:ŒGlenbard West didn't get to be 4-1 in the West Suburban Silver by being lucky.
The Hilltoppers showed some character also, defeating league-rival York 36-31 on Pack-the-Place night in Glen Ellyn.
"We couldn't make a shot," York coach Ken Dowdy said. "It's really simple. We didn't match their toughness for the majority of the game. They got some clutch offensive rebound putbacks when we needed to get a rebound. We had an opportunity at the end to tie the ballgame up and we gave up an offensive rebound for a score. You just can't do that against a tough team like Glenbard West."
The Hilltoppers got out to a 9-0 lead to start the game, but York (10-10, 2-4) came back to take a 16-15 lead with 1:56 to go in the second quarter on Brianne Graunke's 2 free throws.
"(Kathryn) Lux got in foul trouble, and Lux is a leader for us," Hilltoppers coach Mike Hofland said of his junior forward. "That hurt us a bit, especially defensively. They did some things to put pressure on us that we didn't handle at the time."
The Hilltoppers might have to get used to playing without Lux and fellow starter Kara Stack, a senior. Both left the game with 3:36 remaining after a multiplayer collision under the York basket. Lux reinjured her left knee, on which she already wore a brace. Stack left in a neck brace with an injury eerily reminiscent of one she suffered last season under the same basket.
Instead of folding without two key veterans, the young Hilltoppers (10-11, 4-1) responded. Sophomore Abbey White hit a pair of shots, sophomore Abigail Hastings added another with 36 seconds to go, and junior Abby McBride iced the game with a pair of free throws.
"Two players get injured like that and go down, they're either going to respond or they're going to fold, and obviously they responded, so a lot of credit to them to have their players come in and get the job done," Dowdy said. "We just didn't come to play to be honest with you. We've been playing really well lately, playing good defense, and we just picked a bad night to have probably our worst shooting night both on the free-throw line and from the field together, so that's really unfortunate.
"My goodness, you can't lose to a team from your sectional when you have them on the ropes like I thought we did. We just didn't respond."
Hilltoppers sophomore Nicole Hazemi led all scorers with 12 points and added 10 rebounds, 2 assists and a block.
"We don't get Nicole the ball enough," Hofland said. "It doesn't matter who's guarding her, tall or short. She's got the nice fadeaway, she's great around the basket. We have to get her the ball more. She did a nice job tonight."
-- Orrin Schwarz
Wheaton North 56, Glenbard North 44:ŒMichelle Scandora delivered a game-high 16 points, Allie Cerone scored 12 and Brooke Olson added 10 for the Falcons (13-4, 7-0), who stayed unbeaten in the DuPage Valley Conference.
Courtney Colburn's 12 topped Glenbard North (5-15, 2-5).
West Aurora 62, Naperville Central 46:ŒKyra Watson's 25 points and 20 rebounds and Bri Tye's 20 points and 5 rebounds propelled West Aurora (11-6, 5-2) in DuPage Valley Conference action.
The Blackhawks led 19-10 after one quarter and 30-18 at the half.
Naperville Central (14-6, 5-2) received 16 points from Kelley Hendrick.
WW South 50, West Chicago 32:ŒThe Tigers (12-7, 5-2) used 15 points apiece from Sarah Langlas and Maddie Close to win the DuPage Valley Conference contest.
The Tigers outscored West Chicago (2-17, 1-6) 18-5 in the second quarter to take a 25-13 lead.
Willowbrook 39, Morton 33:ŒTaylor Nelson hit three 3-pointers in pacing a balanced scoring attack with 9 points for Willowbrook (9-10, 4-3) in its West Suburban Gold win.
The Warriors outscored Morton in every quarter.
Addison Trail 47, Leyden 33:ŒErica Spear netted 17 points and Mercedes Rallings dropped in 10 to spark Addison Trail to a West Suburban Gold win.
The Blazers pulled away with a 16-3 fourth quarter. Spear had 9 points in the period.
Hinsdale Central 53, Palatine 24:ŒHinsdale Central (19-1) rolled to the nonconference win behind Toni Kokenis' 18 points and Molly Kinsella's 10.
The Red Devils enjoyed a 24-8 lead at intermission on the way to posting their ninth straight victory.
Downers North 47, Hinsdale South 45:ŒMissy Blazej drilled three 3-pointers and poured in 26 points to lift the Trojans (8-11) to triumph .
Joanna Giampoli registered 16 points for Hinsdale South (14-6).
Seneca 61, Lisle 42:ŒThe fifth-seeded host rode a 28-10 opening quarter to a 61-42 in the quarterfinals of the Interstate Eight Conference Tournament.
Nicole Urban led fourth-seeded Lisle (7-13) in scoring with 11.