Geneva ready for Montini challenge
As soon as the final buzzer was sounded and Geneva's girls basketball team had emerged with a 65-30 victory over Rosary Friday, attention quickly shifted to Saturday afternoon's showdown with perennial powerhouse Montini.
“Is that who we play tomorrow?” joked Geneva assistant coach Tim Pease of facing the defending Class 3A state champion Broncos in the championship game of the Vikings' annual Thanksgiving tournament.
“Our girls are up to the challenge,” added Pease. “They're a terrific team. They're a load.”
Geneva (3-0) was a definite load for the Royals (1-3) to contend with, as the Vikings scored the game's first 14 points and went on to build a 21-6 first-quarter lead. Junior forward/center Ashley Santos scored 9 of her game-high 20 points in the opening period.
“I thought we played really well as a team,” said Santos, who added 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocked shots in less than three quarters of playing time.
Geneva, which forced 26 turnovers and recorded 15 steals in the first half alone, went on an 18-2 second-quarter tear while extending its halftime lead to 39-8.
“Obviously, Geneva is a quality team and we've got to play stronger,” said Rosary coach Dave Beebe. “The press was everything we expected. We've got to figure out that the ball doesn't go through kids.
“Whether it's Geneva, Providence or Antioch, and especially against a good team like this, you can't mistakes like that because they're going to feed off it,” added Beebe.
Senior guard Sammy Scofield and junior guard Rachel Hinchman also reached double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Scofield added 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals, while Hinchman had 5 rebounds and 5 steals.
Ohio-bound Kat Yelle contributed 7 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals, as 11 of Geneva's 13 players dressed scored at least one basket.
“There were two keys coming into today's game,” said Pease. “First, we wanted to limit our fouls because we've been fouling way too much. The second thing was we wanted to continue to increase our assists.
“Coming into this game, 72 percent of our baskets have been assisted and we want to maintain that,” he added. “I think we did that today.”
Senior forward Breann Maryanski had 10 points, 13 rebounds and 5 steals for Rosary.
“The score actually could've been much worse if we hadn't rebound the ball,” said Beebe, whose team will face Oswego at 1 p.m. in Saturday's seventh-place game.
Geneva, meanwhile, will put its 57-game regular-season winning streak on the line against Montini.
“Our game plan is to keep doing what we're doing push the ball and keep running the floor,” said Santos. “We'd like to give them a run for their money.”
Montini will counter with 5-4 senior guard Whitney Holloway and 6-2 senior forward Whitney Adams.
“I'm real concerned with their inside presence,” Pease said of the Broncos, who list five 6-footers on their roster. “We'll have to limit their touches and again that is going to start on the perimeter.”