Scouting Montini girls basketball

Montini

Coach: Jason Nichols.

Last year: 33-2, 12-0, first in Suburban Christian Conference Blue; beat Hillcrest 64-53 in Class 3A championship game.

Top players: Whitney Holloway, sr., G; Whitney Adams, sr., F; Kiki Wilson, sr., G; Kasey Reaber, sr., G; Tianna Brown, jr., F; Nikia Edom, so., G; Hailey Adams, jr., G; Diamond Thompson, so., C; Malayna Johnson, so., C.

Scouting report: Nichols doesn’t sound like a coach content with one state title. “To be honest,” he said, “I haven’t addressed the state championship. This is a whole different team.” This group is no less loaded. Montini returns three of its top six players from last year, led by Notre Dame recruit Holloway. Also back is North Carolina-bound Adams and Wisconsin-Milwaukee commit Wilson, whom Nichols said “shot the lights out” over the summer. Added to the mix is Reaber, a starter on Driscoll’s title team two years ago who transferred in from Immaculate Conception. Reaber tore her ACL in mid-July but was recently cleared to play. Look for Montini to be much quicker on the perimeter, a potential matchup nightmare to opponents. There’s no reason to think that Montini can’t repeat in 3A. “The key is health,” Nichols said, “and developing our bench into good role players. I’m excited about this team. Is it better than last year? We’ll find out.”