Sosnovich scores 22 to lead Montini
Mallory Sosnovich can get lost among Montini players, and not just because at 5-foot-5 the junior guard is one of the smallest Broncos.
On a team with future Division I college players like Whitney Holloway, Courtney Thomas, Chrissy Fletcher and the injured Michala Johnson, it's easy for Sosnovich to be overlooked. On Tuesday, however, Sosnovich stood out with 22 points, leading fourth-ranked Montini to a 92-59 Suburban Catholic Conference victory over visiting St. Edward in Lombard.
"She did a very good job," Montini coach Jason Nichols said of Sosnovich. "She can score, she can shoot the 3 ball and she actually made a couple of 2-point field goals in transition, which we've been getting on her about getting out and running, and she was rewarded by our point guards."
"I was just shooting good and getting on the fastbreak," Sosnovich added. "That's where most of my points came from."
Sosnovich also hit 4 of the Broncos' 11 3-point field goals.
"That was a lot of points," Sosnovich said of the team total. "We've never scored 92 points before, I don't think. We were just hitting our shots."
Nichols, however, wasn't overly impressed with the Broncos' offense.
"That's great, but you've got to be able to defend somebody," Nichols said, "and giving up 59 points, that's a joke. That's our highest total this year we've given up is 59 points. ... That bothers me, more than the 92 points, I've got to be really honest, because if you don't defend come playoffs, you're done."
It took a while for Montini (16-2, 6-0) to pull away from St. Edward (9-5, 3-2). Montini led 23-12 after one quarter, but the Green Wave cut it to 4 in the second quarter. A 13-4 run in the final three minutes before halftime helped the Broncos to a 47-31 lead.
The Green Wave got the margin as low as 11 in the third quarter, but again Montini pulled away.
"We had some good stretches," St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson said. "Our kids, they played tough tonight. Montini's got a really solid team. Unfortunately, in the first half some of our shots weren't dropping, but I really like the effort that we put together at times. We'd get a couple of good defensive stops and come down to the other end of the floor and get a bucket or two. We got to the free-throw line a little bit.
"We can't give up 20-point quarters, and that's kind of what killed us tonight. We'd make a run, and they'd hit a couple of 3s and we just couldn't sustain that and keep that intensity level."
Holloway added 18 points, 6 assists and 4 steals for Montini, Alison Seberger had 13 points and senior Jill Sullivan scored 10 off the bench.
As usual senior Katie Yohn led St. Edward in scoring, but this time she was joined by freshman Callie Johnson. Each scored 19 points.
"This has been her best game tonight," Dawson said of Johnson. "She's got a great outside shots, she likes to take it to the basket. We're excited about her play tonight."
Montini meets Driscoll on Friday night in a battle for first place in the SCC.