Top-seeded Montini escapes Glenbard South
It will be all right with Montini if the Broncos never see Glenbard South again, especially in a sectional.
For the second year in a row, the top-seeded Broncos got all they could handle from No. 4 Glenbard South, finally pulling out a 48-39 victory Monday night at the Class 3A Riverside-Brookfield sectional semifinals.
"We came out flat and just weren't ourselves," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "They did some things and got us out of our element, and I don't think we responded well to it. But we found a way to win, so we move on. It's better to win this way than to lose this way."
"Can we just play three quarters?" joked Raiders coach Julie Fonda. "Can we go back and just change it? Unfortunately, the game is 32 minutes long. We had them at half and we had them at the end of the third quarter.
"I just got done saying to (the Raiders players), they laid it all out on the floor. I'm incredibly, tremendously proud of my girls today. ... They executed perfectly."
The Raiders (18-12) led 24-22 at halftime and again 37-36 after three quarters, but the Broncos (27-4) took the lead for good with 5:56 to play on a Whitney Holloway floater in the lane. The Broncos gradually pulled away, making 6 of 7 free throws in the fourth quarter.
"We're very grateful that we found a way to win," said Broncos junior Alison Seberger, who led both teams with 15 points. "... I don't really know what the problem was. I guess today we had an off night, and that can happen anytime. I'm glad that we're still able to play on Thursday (in the sectional final against Wheaton Academy) to redeem ourselves. This happened last year, same time, same game. We didn't play our best and we still found a way to win."
Whitney Holloway added 12 points and 6 assists for Montini. Senior guards Kim Schwerdtmann and Meghan Pipal led the Raiders with 11 points, but the Raiders only scored 2 points in the final quarter.
"The last six minutes or so we kind of got out of our comfort area and they got in our shorts playing good defense and we panicked a bit," Fonda said.
Montini 48, Glenbard South 39
Glenbard South - Schwerdtmann 4 2-2 11, Pipal 3 4-6 11, Hicks 0 0-2 0, Markovic 2 0-0 4, Despot 4 1-1 9, T. Di Iorio 1 0-0 3, Podgorski 0 0-0 0, Yasak 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 8-13 39.
Montini - Thomas 1 0-2 2, Holloway 6 0-1 12, Sosnovich 2 4-4 9, Seberger 4 4-4 15, Fletcher 2 1-2 5, Adams 0 0-0 0, Brown 1 1-2 3, Wilson 1 0-0 2, Sullivan 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 10-15 48.
Glenbard South 8 16 13 2 -39
Montini 10 12 14 12 -48
3-point baskets: GS: Schwerdtmann, Pipal, T. Di Iorio; M: Seberger 3, Sosnovich.
Fouled out: GS: Schwerdtmann.