Montini, Trinity advance to sectional title game at Glenbard South

With four minutes gone by in Tuesday night’s Class 3A Glenbard South sectional semifinal, there was a ton of excitement for the home crowd in the Raiders gym.

Glenbard South had sprinted out to a quick 7-0 lead over Trinity, forcing the Blazers to call time out.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, though, they couldn’t sustain the effort.

Trinity scored the next 15 points to take a commanding lead, and didn’t let up in a 39-31 Blazers win. Trinity will play Montini for the sectional title at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Junior Brooklynn Moore was spectacular for the Raiders. She finished with 15 rebounds and 9 points, and kept her team in the game.

“She’s an absolute beast on the boards,” said Raiders coach Eric Daca.

“She’s strong, she elevates, and she just goes up and gets those rebounds.”

The Raiders roster has only 3 seniors, and one of them, Allie Mizwicki, almost brought her team back from the brink in the fourth quarter.

She scored 14 points and her 3-pointer early in the final period closed the gap to 29-26.

Glenbard South had chances to get even closer, but Trinity clamped down on defense and outscored the Raiders 10-5 down the stretch.

“We started 7-0, and then we got stuck,” said Daca. “You’ve got to give credit to Trinity. They came out with a lot of intensity, and we buckled a little under the pressure. We talked about being strong with the ball, knowing they’d be right up tight on us, and we kind of gave in to that a little bit.”

Jamie Mizwicki pitched in with 4 points for the Raiders, who finished the year with 24 wins and only 8 losses.

“It’s going to be tough leaving this group,” said Allie Mizwicki of her teammates, who completed her stellar career with a total of 998 points.

“We really fought in this game,” added Allie Mizwicki, “and we’ve been fighting this entire season. Everyone came out and supported each other in practice, in the games. This was definitely a great group.

“It’s unfortunate that we came up short tonight, but this doesn’t take away from all of our conference wins and our second regional championship.”

In the opening game in Glen Ellyn, Victoria Matulevicius led a second-half surge for Montini.

The senior scored 7 points, grabbed 3 rebounds and had 2 assists early in the third quarter as the Broncos opened up a 30-13 lead over St. Francis.

Montini won 52-38, and Matulevicius said it was the Broncos approach after intermission that led to the victory.

“We talked about attacking their box and one, moving the ball in and out, and looking for the gaps in their defense.

“Everything we talked about in practice translated in to the game.”

Behind 16 points from Natalie Doyle, St. Francis rallied to get within 10 in the fourth quarter.

But the Spartans couldn’t get any closer as Montini clamped down on defense, and now the top-seeded Broncos are one step closer to their goals.

Nicolette Kerstein led Montini with 16 points, while Matulevicius finished with 11.

Shea Carver pitched in with 10 points for the Broncos.

“I just look at every game like it could be our last,” said Matulevicius.

“I give everything I have, so I can play with my team one more time — because when the season ends, I’m really going to miss my teammates.”