Montini wallops No. 7 Boylan

It being election week, Montini faced a sort of referendum Saturday on how it stacks up with the best teams around the state.

The Broncos would surely get the downstate vote.

Rockford Boylan, ranked No. 7 in Class 4A, was blown out by 3A No. 1 Montini 83-47 in Lombard.

Montini (25-2) scored the first 10 points of the game, led 20-10 after a quarter and never saw that margin dip below 8 the rest of the way.

"Some of our conference teams that we play are down," Montini coach Jason Nichols said, "and gives us sometimes these false positives. This (Boylan) team has had a very successful season. To come out and beat them by 36, I'd be an absolute idiot to say I was not happy with the way we played."

Alison Seberger hit a 3-pointer on Montini's first possession, foreshadowing an onslaught from distance. Montini hit 10 3-pointers, part of its season-high point total. Mallory Sosnovich made 5 of those, Seberger 4 and Whitney Adams 1.

Whitney Holloway, who had 10 assists, gladly played the maestro to that sweet music from beyond the arc.

"I love getting them the ball," said Holloway, who also scored 14 points, "because they usually make it. Penetrate, kick it out to them. It really opens up a lot for me to get to the basket as well."

"She was finding the open girl all day," Nichols said.

Boylan (22-3) came in with losses to just ranked Moline (which also beat Montini) and Rockford Auburn the night before. Junior Bria Edwards had 19 points and 10 rebounds, but past her the Titans couldn't match Montini player for player.

"So many shooters," Boylan coach Paul Perrone said. "We could maybe play 21/2 quarters with them, but they're so multifaceted. Good team. We knew they were going to be a good team."

Boylan didn't seem ready for Montini's disruptive matchup zone early. The Titans turned the ball over 9 times in the first quarter, 31 for the game. Holloway and Kiki Wilson each had 4 takeaways.

"We like to get ball pressure," Holloway said, "make people turn it over and get us easy fastbreak opportunities."

Even offensive rebounding, a constant concern for Nichols with injured Michala Johnson out for the year, was a bright spot for the Broncos. Courtney Thomas pulled down 5 offensive rebounds and Tianna Brown, who scored 9 points off the bench, had 4.

"Tianna played motivated," Nichols said. "She played great. Tianna was inspired. If we get that from her we're going to be very tough to beat."