Montini 65, Rosary 46

You've got a better chance of finding Bigfoot than finding a coach who's ever completely satisfied, but Montini girls basketball coach Jason Nichols was happy enough with his team's effort.

"I'm going to go home and hug my wife tonight," Nichols said. "They listened better today, and that's a beautiful thing. That makes me a happy man."

The Broncos knocked off Suburban Catholic Conference rival Rosary in Lombard to grab a two-game lead in the conference. Montini has won the conference title the past four seasons and is 62-2 in the conference over the last five seasons.

The Broncos have been a team of strong scoring spurts this year, combined with the kind of intense, full-court defensive pressure that buried the Royals.

"They have that effect on a lot of teams," said Rosary coach Dave Beebe. "We didn't do a good job against their pressure. We knew it was coming, and we prepared for it, but we just made too many mistakes."

Rosary (16-5, 8-2) took the ball hard to the basket and grabbed a 10-7 lead on a Victoria Alvarez drive in the first quarter, but Montini (16-4, 8-0) answered with a 12-2 offensive run in taking a 19-12 lead after a quarter.

Montini continued to force turnovers and extended the lead to 36-23 by halftime, even as leading scorer Michala Johnson had to sit with foul trouble, midway through the quarter.

Montini's bench scored 14 of the Broncos' 36 points in the first half, with Shannon Prince and Mallory Sosnovich each hitting a 3-pointer, and Whitney Adams and Kiki Wilson scoring 4 points apiece before the break.

Montini effectively put things out of reach by outscoring Rosary 14-7 in the third quarter and led 50-30 heading into the fourth.

Johnson finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 4 steals, while 6 of her teammates scored above their season averages for the night, and Montini's bench chipped in 21 points.

"It's a team sport, and that's a great thing," Nichols said.

"From the starters to the bench players, everybody contributes on this team," said Montini senior Cootie Leeberg. "If we would have lost, we would have been tied with (Rosary), so this was a big win."

Whitney Holloway had 9 points, 4 assists and 3 steals for Montini, Leeberg scored 8, and Chrissy Fletcher had 11 points and 5 rebounds.

Jordan Rettig led Rosary with 11 points, Alvarez netted 10, and Faith Jones chipped in 8 points, while Katie Petrando and Colleen VanBogaert scored 6 apiece.