Defenses stand out in Montini win

For a while it seemed neither Montini's nor Neuqua Valley's defense would allow a basket. Eventually, Montini's offense found a way to score. It took longer for Neuqua Valley.

The Broncos took advantage to cruise to a 41-19 girls basketball victory Tuesday night at the Hinsdale South Hornet Tipoff Tournament in Darien.

Montini (4-0) opened an 8-0 lead after one quarter and led 13-0 before Myia Starks converted a free throw with 5:34 left in the second quarter. Another three minutes passed before senior center Bryce Menendez made a move in the paint and watched the Wildcats' first field goal finally drop through the net. By then Montini led 18-3, and Neuqua Valley (2-1) wasn't out of the woods yet.

"It wasn't like we were just chucking shots," Wildcats coach Mike Williams said. "We had good shots. ... In contrast they made a lot of shots. It was a great defensive battle early on. Some of these kids, they've got to have the experience."

"I thought we did a great job defensively," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "I thought we were really, really good. You hold a team that has that much firepower to 19, that's a pretty gosh darn good job. I'm pretty proud of them there. Good start. We needed a test, and I thought we answered it pretty well today."

The Wildcats finished the half having made 2 of their first 28 shots. They went 6 of 48 for the game. Montini finished 18 of 45 from the field.

Williams didn't sweat the stats. After all it's only the third game of the season, and Montini is one of the best teams in the state.

"We need that," Williams said. "We have to have challenges. So the challenge is tonight to play great defense - I thought we did - and to get some rebounds - I thought we did. We just didn't make any shots."

To hold Montini to just 41 points is no easy feat either. The Broncos hit just two 3-pointers.

"I knew his matchup zone would give us fits a little bit," Nichols said. "It's tough. It's like, do you run your man stuff, do you run your zone stuff. His defense gave us fits. We were inefficient, though, at times with it. We had opportunities."

The Broncos answered by taking advantage of their quickness off the dribble to get to the basket or find 6-foot-5 freshman Lindsey Jarosinski or 6-0 senior Rainey Kuykendall with a pass for a layup.

"We had girls like Tiara (Wallace) and Kelsey Bogdan that went to the basket and made dumps for Lindsey Jarosinski and Rainey, and they did a good job," Nichols said. "I think we have a lot of weapons there. I think the biggest thing for us is this team playing good teams, which our schedule is good, and playing better throughut the year, because they lack experience collectively as a team. A couple of girls have experience, but as a team."

The teams could meet again at Montini's Christmas tournament.