Montini 58, Hope 51
The Montini girls basketball players were so deliriously happy after knocking off top-ranked Hope that they forgot something when they ran out of the gym to celebrate in their locker room:
The Class 3A Nazareth sectional championship plaque.
The Broncos returned to the court to claim their prize, then stuck around to cut down their net and celebrate with their fans after pulling off a 58-51 upset victory Thursday night in LaGrange Park.
"Awesome, absolutely awesome," elated Montini coach Jason Nichols said.
Montini sophomore center Michala Johnson totaled 18 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks to lead a hard-nosed team effort that stunned Hope (29-2), ranked No. 1 in the Chicago area and Class 3A, No. 21 in the nation by USA Today.
"It feels so great to win this game right now because they came into the game probably thinking that they were going to beat us because of the way we played on Tuesday," Johnson said. "I'm so happy right now."
Montini (26-5) trailed 49-47 with three minutes remaining but scored the next 7 points at the free-throw line to move ahead 54-49 after freshman point guard Whitney Holloway split a pair with 36.8 seconds left.
"I was missing a couple of 'em, but I just kept faith and I knew I could make 'em so I had to knock 'em down and that's what I did," said Holloway, who made 4 of 6 free throws in the run. "It was crazy. The gym was so loud I couldn't believe it."
Sophomore guard Mallory Sosnovich went 4 of 4 from the line in the final 17.3 seconds to seal the big win for the Broncos, who meet Chicago Washington in Monday's St. Xavier University supersectional.
Hope received a game-high 25 points from Penn State-bound guard Zhaque Gray and 17 from sophomore guard Dawn Luster.
Gray scored her club's first 17 points to give the Eagles a 1-point edge before Montini took a 24-23 lead into intermission.
Hope closed the third quarter with a 10-0 run to move ahead 42-38 but then opened the fourth quarter in a stall game and watched its offense disintegrate down the stretch as its winning streak ended at 25.
Montini sophomore guard Alison Seberger drained three of her team's seven 3-pointers en route to 13 points.
"If they scored, we had to score," Seberger said. "This is unbelievable. We are the first Illinois team that's beaten 'em. That's amazing."