Montini shakes past Grayslake Central
Jason Nichols greeted each of his exiting Montini starters with a handshake, his eyes never leaving the court for long.
Save the hugs for Saturday. The Broncos’ focus has never swayed from the ultimate prize.
Montini continued an almost businesslike, but no less impressive playoff run to Redbird Arena on Monday, pulling away from Grayslake Central 64-41 at the Class 3A Hoffman Estates supersectional.
“I’m excited, don’t get me wrong,” Nichols said, “but there’s two more games. We’re going to where we want to go.”
Top-ranked and defending state champion Montini will meet No. 2 Springfield in a 12:15 p.m. semifinal in Normal. It’s a rematch of last year’s semi won by Montini.
Montini (34-1) has beaten five playoff opponents by an average margin of 33.5 points per game. The Broncos led Monday’s game 20-10 after a quarter behind 9 first-quarter points and two 3s from Kiki Wilson, and the lead was in double figures for all but 42 seconds the rest of the way.
“We’re happy about it,” Wilson said, “but we’re defending champions. We expect to be down there. We wanted to prove to people that we should be down there again.”
Grayslake Central (28-4), in the supersectional for the first time since 2004, did as good a job handling Montini’s pressure as any team these playoffs, turning it over just 12 times.
But the Rams were pounded on the boards 40-24. Not helping matters, 6-foot-1 leading scorer Rebekah Llorens sat more than eight minutes of a foul-filled first half on both sides with foul trouble.
Llorens, coming off a 37-point, 20-rebound sectional final, had 13 and 6 Monday. Junior Skylar Jessop had a game-high 16 for the Rams, who shot 23.5 percent from the field.
“We tried everything we could against them,” Grayslake Central coach Steve Ikenn said. “The only thing we didn’t do is pressure, and it’s probably not a good idea to press Whitney Holloway. Bottom line — they’re a great team.”
The Rams attempted 17 3s, probably more than Ikenn had in mind. Five Montini blocked shots no doubt contributed to Grayslake Central’s tentativeness.
“We had a couple nice looks at the beginning, they just didn’t fall,” Ikenn said. “And then I do think we thought, ‘Let’s try something else.’ They blocked a few shots, and we might have backed off a little.”
Montini’s depth, which Nichols said before the season would be critical to the Broncos’ repeat hopes, rose to the forefront.
Malayna Johnson came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points, and fellow sophomore Nikia Edom scored 13 with three 3s.
Whitney Adams added 12 points and 7 rebounds, Wilson 9 points and Holloway 7. Kasey Reaber chipped in 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
“Different people step up different days,” Wilson said. “As a team, we just want to win.”
Montini, No. 1 in 3A since Day One, is now two wins away from becoming only the second DuPage County school to repeat in girls basketball. Only Candace Parker and Naperville Central in 2003-04 have done so.
“The kids got a lot of weight on their shoulders,” Nichols said, “and you know what? So far they’re answering the bell.
“It is tough to try to repeat. Everbody is gunning for you. It has really aged me.”