Geneva makes a statement
As first weeks on the job go, you would be hard pressed to have a better one than new Geneva girls basketball coach Sarah Meadows.
The Vikings followed a win over Morgan Park on Tuesday by leading No. 2 Montini for the final 28 minutes of a 55-52 victory Saturday in the championship game of the 24th annual Geneva Thanksgiving Tournament.
Now 5-0, No. 4 Geneva looks poised to pick up right where it left off winning three sectional titles the past three years under former coach Gina Nolan.
"I just said to somebody it's almost going too smoothly right now," Meadows said. "Something is going to come up. But it's fun, it's good. A great group of kids."
Montini (4-1) ended Geneva's 57-game regular season winning streak a year ago in this same tournament on its way to winning the Class 3A state championship.
The Broncos started two sophomores and a freshman Saturday, and Geneva's aggressive defense was ready. The Vikings had 6 steals in the opening quarter while forcing 10 turnovers.
Montini countered Geneva's ballhandling advantage with 6-foot senior Tianna Brown inside. Brown led all scorers with 25 points and grabbed 16 rebounds.
Sami Pawlak battled for 10 points and 7 rebounds for Geneva and joined Rachel Hinchman and tournament MVP Ashley Santos on the all-tournament team.
"She (Brown) is strong and knows exactly where to go and where to be. She is definitely a very good post player," Pawlak said.
"We're ready for the year to begin. We're excited. We have new people and a new coach and everything but we are working really well together and Meadows is an amazing coach so far."
Montini took its only lead of the game scoring the opening 5 points. But when the Marquette-bound Santos answered with a putback bucket and 17-foot jumper, Geneva had a 7-5 lead it never relinquished, and the start of a 14-2 run to close the first quarter.
Montini finished with 20 turnovers to just 12 for Geneva. Geneva guards Michaela Loebel and Rachel Hinchman combined for 5 steals.
"They are a really good team but we told them they will make mistakes and make turnovers so pressure up," Meadows said.
Junior Kelly Gordon gave Geneva a lift off the bench by driving for a basket and then scoring on a layup off a feed from Pawlak to put the Vikings up 14-7 after one quarter.
Geneva took its biggest lead 28-18 just before halftime on a pair of Hinchman free throws. The senior got to the line 10 times and hit seven.
After Montini missed all seven of its first-half 3-pointers, Kateri Stone and Jasmine Lumpkin connected on back-to-back 3s in the third quarter to bring their team within 32-30.
Morgan Seberger's 3 restored a 5-point Geneva lead, and Hinchman made four more free throws to put the Vikings ahead 41-36 heading to the fourth quarter.
Montini's pressure finally got to Geneva, whose six turnovers in the fourth quarter matched the six it had in the first three.
Brown scored 10 points in the fourth quarter including a basket that brought Montini as close as it would get, 46-45 with 3:43 left.
The Broncos got the ball back and a chance for the lead only to see Pawlak steal an entry pass to Brown. Geneva rebuilt a 53-46 lead with 1:10 left before the Broncos made one more charge.
The second of Brown's 2 baskets inside cut Geneva's lead to 54-52, and after the Vikings missed 2 free throws Montini had a chance to tie or take the lead.
A moving screen with 11 seconds left denied that opportunity, and after Pawlak split free throws with 10.5 seconds left, Nikia Edom's potential game-tying 3-pointer from the key came up short at the buzzer.
"Is that call (moving screen) a little mysterious, yes. but you give up as many offensive rebounds, second-chance points, and you turn the ball over that many times, you put yourself in a spot for them to make that call," said Montini coach Jason Nichols, who was denied his 300th victory.
"We just aren't experienced enough to win those close games yet. But this is how you get better playing in these games."
Geneva feels the same way. Santos is the only starter back, yet here the Vikings are at 5-0 with two signature wins.
Santos led the way Saturday, capping her MVP performance with 24 points and 8 rebounds on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 at the line.
"We played with our hearts today," Santos said. "We went all-out every possession. We stuck it out and got the win.
"It's such a great way to start off the season. My team and I are so thrilled. It is just going to push us to keep pursuing what our highest goals are because we know we can do it."
Stone joined Brown in double figures for Montini with 10 points.
"You have to give credit to Geneva. They played great," Nichols said. "But I thought our kids showed a lot of guts coming back and fighting to the end because we have no experience.
"It's OK. We aren't going to go undefeated. All our teams that won state titles and went downstate didn't go undefeated. You have to learn and get better for it."
Hinchman added 9 points and Gordon and Seberger both had 6 for Geneva. The 5-foot-7 Loebel didn't score but hustled her way to 5 rebounds and 3 steals while helping handle Montini's pressure.
"Our kids stepped up," Meadows said. "They came to play. They were ready for this game. We talked before the game they (Montini) got you last year, don't let that happen again. There's a lot of kids on our team that know that team well. It was a big one for us."