Montini stops Rosary

How someone felt while watching Friday night's game between Montini and Rosary depended as much on which half they were seeing as which team they were rooting for.

The Broncos dominated the first half as they used a 10-0 start to build a 33-10 second-quarter lead.

"We were pretty intense in the first half," Montini guard Mallory Sosnovich said. "We got a lot of steals, and we boxed out well."

But Rosary (13-6, 3-5) is not in the habit of letting Suburban Catholic Conference rivals stomp all over its home floor. The Royals rallied to pull to within 7 late in the fourth quarter, before losing by that same margin, 55-48.

"We played a good second half, so it wasn't a complete disaster," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "We didn't get blown out when we could've, but we have to play a full game."

Sosnovich set the pace for the Broncos in the opening half, connecting 5 times from beyond the arc and scoring all of her game-high 17 points before the break.

"I was shooting really well in warmups, and it transferred to the game," Sosnovich said.

But it was Montini's defense that made the difference in the early going by clamping down inside and forcing Rosary into perimeter shots that were not falling.

"We had a lot of energy to start the game," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "Instead of coming out and putting the game away, we stopped playing defense, and we stopped playing hard."

With 1:10 left in the opening half, the Royals scored their first field goal of the second quarter. It led to a 9-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Stephanie Haugen, that served as a glimpse of what was to come.

"Montini is a great team, but so are we, and we can battle with them," Rosary's Jordan Rettig said.

As she's been throughout her career at Rosary, Rettig proved to be the difference-maker in the second half. After being held to just 4 points in the opening two quarters, Rettig scored 12 the rest of the way.

Montini (18-3, 8-1) held a slightly less comfortable lead, 47-32, after three quarters. When Audrey VanAcker drained her second 3-pointer of the game and Katie Eckberg hit a pair of free throws, it capped a 9-0 run and pulled Rosary to within 10.

"This has been the story for us the last three games," Beebe said. "We're not going to beat too many more this year if keep putting ourselves in a hole."

The Royals had opportunities to complete the comeback in the closing minutes, gaining possession of the ball while trailing by 7. But missed shots and ill-timed turnovers prevented Rosary from getting any closer.

"Montini is well coached, they play hard, and they've got too many weapons to let ourselves fall behind like that, play only one half against them, and hope to win," Beebe said.