Bolingbrook bowls over Montini
Ariel Massengale and Bolingbrook left no doubt this time.
Matched against defending Class 3A state champion Montini for the second straight year at the McDonald's Shootout, the two-time 4A champs led from start to finish in winning 79-63 on Monday at Willowbrook High School.
Bolingbrook won last year's meeting 51-43, but that game was tied midway through the fourth quarter. Some on the Montini side thought they would have won had Michala Johnson not torn her ACL days earlier.
No disputing this one.
“I think we did have something to prove,” Massengale said. “We wanted to go out and prove who was the best team in the state of Illinois.”
Bolingbrook (14-2) won its 50th game in a row against Illinois opponents, and snapped Montini's 36-game winning streak dating back to last year's shootout. All in front of a capacity crowd of 3,300 rarely seen in girls high school basketball.
“We had the setting to do something special tonight,” Montini coach Jason Nichols said. “We have what I thought was the team capable of beating this team. I'm stunned just by how we played.”
Massengale was sensational in directing Bolingbrook's attack. The Tennessee recruit had 20 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, hitting Montini with an array of pull-up jumpers and physical, knifing drives to the basket.
“There's a reason why she's the No. 1 point guard in the country,” Nichols said. “She has the combination of speed and power that can't be matched by any guard in the country. I love Whitney Holloway. I think she's the second-best.”
Connecticut-bound junior Morgan Tuck scored 23 points and Waubonsie Valley transfer Kierra Ray 11.
Bolingbrook shot 60 percent from the field, scoring 79 points against a Montini defense giving up a tick over 30 coming in.
“We wanted to pack it in and make them beat us from the outside,” Nichols said, “and Tuck killed us from the high post. Our guards did not rotate back in. Our off the ball effort tonight was atrocious, and it cost us.”
Bolingbrook led 22-13 after a quarter, 37-26 at half and by double figures almost the entire second half, the margin peaking at 20.
“Whenever this team comes to play, they can play,” Bolingbrook coach Anthony Smith said. “Sometimes they choose not to and we put up 30-40 points. This team has a lot of untapped potential.”
Montini's Holloway all but played Massengale to a draw in last year's meeting. But this time, with Massengale drawing the defensive assignment, the Notre Dame-bound Holloway went scoreless until hitting 2 free throws with 3:25 left in the third quarter. Holloway finished with 12 points.
“Whitney and I have a friendly rivalry going back to the fifth or sixth grade,” Massengale said.
“I think (Massengale) was motivated because last year Holloway banged her for 18,” Nichols said. “I was a little stunned that Massengale was guarding her, because sometimes they like to put her on some of the weaker players to save her. I think Massengale told Tony Smith ‘I want Holloway.'
“Holloway is the motor of our car. When she ain't running, we aren't the same team.”
Montini (23-1) lost despite hitting 10 3-pointers. North Carolina-bound Whitney Adams hit six of them, and finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
An Adams 3-pointer pulled Montini within 56-43 with 7:46 left. The next trip down Adams drove in for a layup, but the basket was waived off on a charge call. Montini never did draw closer than 13.
“If somebody would have told me that we would have hit 10 3s and scored 63 points, I would have told them that we'd win by 15,” Nichols said. “Our effort tonight to get back in transition was unacceptable. They exposed us.”
Kiki Wilson added 11 points and Kasey Reaber 9 for Montini.
“This will be the best team we play all year, we know that,” Adams said. “Now we have to work harder in practice, work our way through the playoffs and get back to state.”