Adams, Montini wallop Peoria Richwoods

STERLING -- Watching this kind of shooting exhibition from Whitney Adams, it's easy to see why North Carolina was sold on her so quickly.

The Montini senior scored 20 points all in the first half leading a 63-30 rout of Peoria Richwoods on Friday at the Sterling Shootout.

Adams scored Montini's first 14 points. She swished a medium-range jumper the first trip down and never looked back. Open looks were plentiful and Adams obliged.

“Whenever I was open and had the opportunity to shoot, I shot it,” Adams said. “They were pretty far off me, so I just went up and shot it.”

Adams hit five 3-pointers on Monday against Rosary. The step up in competition didn't cool her off any. She hit 4 in a row in the first half.

“When she's hot, she's hot,” Montini coach Jason Nichols said. “She's in a rhythm. Good to see.”

Montini (10-0) suffered its first loss last season at this event in western Illinois, a victim of ice-cold shooting against Moline. The unusual fieldhouse background and dim lighting spooks some visitors.

Montini looked right at home Friday. After missing their first 3-point attempt, the Broncos hit 7 straight in the first half. Nikia Edom came off the bench with 15 points, hitting five of her six 3-point attempts. As a team Montini made 10 of 22 from three.

“I'm used to it now, after last year,” Adams said. “We got here early so we could get used to the lighting and how big the gym is. I was a lot more comfortable.”

Montini repeatedly made the extra pass to give its shooters open looks. The Broncos had assists on 15 baskets in the first half. Kasey Reaber had 9 assists to go with 6 rebounds, Whitney Holloway 8 assists to go with her 6 steals. Montini led 40-20 at halftime.

“The extra pass was great,” Nichols said. “Nikia Edom was awesome off the bench. She gives us that every game, I'll go to bed every night and sleep well.”

Princeton recruit Mariah Smith had 17 points and 8 rebounds for Richwoods (9-2), ranked third in the preseason Class 3A poll behind Montini and Springfield. Knights coach Todd Hursey wasn't wild about his team's defense but also realized who they were up against.

“We didn't want to go out and guard them tonight,” Hursey said. “Montini's the defending state champs. They look like they haven't missed a beat.”

Adams admitted Montini had a little extra juice for this matchup between the last two state champions in 3A. Call it Internet message board motivation.

“We heard a lot of people talking that they were ranked third and they wanted to beat our brains in. Everybody in our area was talking about it,” Adams said. “This was a pretty big game for us. We wanted to take care of business.”