Alison Seberger keeps promise to Michala Johnson

NORMAL - Alison Seberger wears her emotions on her sleeve, but you almost wanted to shed tears of joy with her.

Montini had just beaten Hillcrest 64-53 to win its first state championship in girls basketball history, and standing feet away was Michala Johnson.

Seven weeks ago, in the wake of Montini's loss to Bolingbrook at the McDonald's Shootout, Seberger said she would win a state championship for her fallen teammate.

Promise made, promise kept.

"Once we got down here we knew we wanted to win it for Michala," Seberger said. "She didn't get to experience playing on this floor - all she got to experience was being on the sideline. To win it for her is the best feeling in the world."

Seberger no doubt was one of a half-dozen girls in tears that January day to find out their leader and friend would never play with them again.

How do you recover from losing her to an ACL tear two straight years? How cruel a fate for a spectacular high school career cut short?

Relentlessly optimistic, Johnson vowed that "this is not the end of my life, or our season."

That faith remained unshakeable. That belief was rewarded as Johnson watched her teammates carry the championship trophy out of Redbird.

"Words can't explain how proud I am of them," Johnson said. "So many people said they couldn't do it while I was out. We proved to everybody that we're the best in the state."

There were doubts. Oh yes, there were doubts.

And things sure didn't look good when Montini dug a 27-15 second-quarter hole, the team's biggest of the season.

But before you knew it, Montini was back ahead 28-27. Then it was 33-31 after a Seberger half-ending 3-pointer accompanied by a Seberger happy dance off the court that was all arms, legs and utter joy.

"She's been like that for four years," Montini coach Jason Nichols said of his senior guard. "She's goofy. She's like a little Gumby out there waving her arms. She plays with energy and emotion. I love kids like that."

Seberger missed her first five shots Friday and her first Saturday. One shot Saturday hit the back of the backboard, one the side of the backboard.

Routes to the rim that defied physics.

"She was feeling something I wasn't, I guess," Nichols said.

But Seberger has a habit of hitting big shots. They usually are followed by a trademark fist pump. Saturday she hit 6 of Montini's record 12 3-pointers.

"You gotta ride with her," Nichols said.

She wasn't going to let this one get away. Wasn't going to let her friend down. Seberger has played AAU with Johnson since the sixth grade.

Teammates for that long, you're more than teammates.

"She means so much to this team and to me," Seberger said, "and to go down two years in a row with an ACL, I don't even know what else to say."

The end was fitting for a special group of seniors.

Seberger, Mallory Sosnovich and Johnson were Full Package Lady Lightning AAU teammates back in middle school with the likes of St. Charles North's Kiley Hackbarth, Oswego's Samiya Wright and Fenwick's Tricia Liston.

Never satisfied and demanding, Nichols' bear hug of his Montini kids coming off the floor revealed his true feelings for them.

"To have those kids go out with a state championship," he said, "means so much."

jwelge@dailyherald.com