In OT it's Driscoll
Courtney Lindfors was doubled over in a daze, at the receiving end of a Montini elbow to the mouth early in the second half.
Lindfors and the Driscoll Highlanders were still standing in the end.
In a rough-and-tumble game that would do the numerous football players in attendance Friday in Addison proud, Driscoll beat Montini 45-41 in overtime to hand the Broncos their first Suburban Catholic Conference loss in two years.
"The most physical game I've played in, in my games at Driscoll," said junior Lindfors, who had 18 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks. "But it was good for us. We proved that we can be physical, too."
Driscoll (16-0, 6-0) shot just 18 of 34 from the free-throw line - but won the game there late. Gigi DiGrazia split two with 49.5 seconds left in overtime to break a 41-41 tie, and Taylor Reaber did the same with 27.4 ticks left to make it 43-41. After a Montini turnover Lindfors - 6 of 14 at the line to that point - knocked in a pair to ice it.
"For some reason our free throws were off," Lindfors said, "but we stepped up in the end when we needed them."
The game was no beauty but compensated in emotion. And physical play. Montini's Whitney Holloway was thrown to the ground on a loose ball in the first half, and Lindfors struggled to shut her mouth after taking the elbow early in the third quarter.
Driscoll led 18-13 at half, all of Montini's points courtesy of Holloway. A coast-to-coast drive by Holloway with 6:16 left in the fourth gave the Broncos the lead back at 31-29. Three lead changes and two ties ensued, a Holloway runner tying it at 38-38 with 27 seconds left in regulation.
Holloway missed a pair of free throws with 6.6 seconds left, forcing overtime. An Alison Seberger drive with 2:22 left in overtime put Montini ahead for the last time at 40-38, but Shaquira Scott converted a three-point play to put Driscoll ahead 41-40.
It was Driscoll's first win over Montini since Jason Nichols took over the Broncos program in 2003.
"It starts up here in our heads," said Driscoll coach Steve McCuiston. "We can't beat them nine times out of 10, but maybe we can beat them a couple times out of 10. The question is, was it going to come today. They key was we were more ready to play mentally, more confident against them than we have been in the past."
Holloway had 18 points and 4 steals and Seberger 11 points for Montini (16-3, 6-1), which shot just 5 of 23 from 3-point range, 6 of 15 at the line and most grating to Nichols had 7 offensive rebounds in 41 misses.
"We had looks, but we didn't capitalize," Nichols said, "and we're getting zero inside. Three points out of three post players. That's not going to cut it."
Montini forced 21 Driscoll turnovers - but few led to scores the other way, negating the Broncos' big edge in transition.
"We worked all week on that in practice," DiGrazia said. "We said we just have to attack it patiently. Last year we had a ton of turnovers, and we tried to do it too quick."