Burlington Central knocks off No. 1 Montini
This time, Burlington Central sealed the deal.
The Rockets played possibly the team's best and most complete game in three years Saturday night, which they needed to do in order to pull off the Class 3A girls basketball upset of the season.
Taking as much as a 17-point lead midway through the third quarter, Burlington Central was able to play through the relentless pressure applied by two-time defending state champion Montini, eventually coming away with a 51-37 upset win over the top-ranked Broncos in front of an energetic near capacity crowd in Lombard.
"That was just a huge huge win by a great group of kids who believed in themselves," said BC coach Mark Smith. "Montini expects to win and there's no reason we shouldn't expect to win. We just told them to go out there and play for fun and play your hearts out. (Montini) is the standard-bearer and it was a great atmosphere to play in. The No. 1 thing is we kept our composure and finished the game."
Which is what the No. 10 Rockets (20-3) failed to do after holding late leads before falling to Stevenson and Divine Savior of Milwaukee earlier this season.
"You learn your lessons and you don't like that taste in your mouth," said Smith, whose team avenged a state semifinal loss to the Broncos last year.
Junior Sam Pryor led the Rockets with 15 points, junior Shelby Holt added 12 and senior Aly DeTamble scored 11. Those three also accounted for all 10 of Burlington Central's 3-pointers with Holt hitting 4 and Pryor and DeTamble 3 each.
"We needed it but after losing to them downstate we wanted it bad tonight," said Pryor, who is now just 27 points shy of 1,000 for her career. "We've had a bad taste in our mouths since then. And we told ourselves we didn't want a repeat of the McDonald's game (against Divine Savior). The coaches just kept telling us to show patience and stay calm and we did."
"All the credit to Burlington Central," said Montini coach Jason Nichols, whose team lost to a Class 3A opponent for the first time since falling to Peoria Richwoods 45-34 on Dec. 22, 2012. "They wanted it and they played hard. I went into this game thinking we were so well prepared and we just didn't execute. But that's not to discredit Burlington Central. They played outstanding and they won this game."
After Pryor hit a 3-pointer with 6:55 left in the first quarter to put BC up 6-3, the Rockets never trailed. They hit seven 3-pointers in the first half to open up a 28-19 lead at the break, the last coming when junior Kayla Ross (4 assists) found Holt open deep in the corner and Holt hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded.
Pryor hit a turnaround in the lane and Holt (4 assists) a 3-pointer to put BC up 33-19 early in the third and after junior Emily Cochrane hit a 3, Pryor (7 rebounds) and DeTamble made back-to-back treys to give the Rockets a 39-22 lead with 4:16 left in the third.
"We didn't do a good job coming out to open the second half," Nichols said. "We've been a sleepy team like that and that's a problem."
The Broncos (22-5) did mount a comeback, using a stifling pressure defense to cause 3 turnovers that fueled an 11-0 run and brought them to within 39-33 after an Illyse Pitts steal and layup 46 seconds into the fourth quarter. But despite not making a basket for nearly 11 minutes, the Rockets did knock down enough free throws and played outstanding defense to not let Montini get any closer. BC was 8-for-10 from the line in the fourth quarter including 4-for-6 from Ross and 2-for-2 each from DeTamble and senior Alison Colby (7 points).
"We needed it and wanted it so bad," said DeTamble. "We came out with a lot of energy. We had nothing to lose and they had everything to lose. We learned how to finish a game tonight."
The Rockets made 10 of their 24 attempts from 3-point range and shot 16 of 40 overall. Montini, which was held to its lowest point total of the season, was just 12 of 39, including 4 of 26 from 3-point range.
"We had the 11-0 run and got back into it but we didn't shoot well and our communication was awful tonight," said Nichols. "We have to get better."
Senior Rainey Kuykendall led the Broncos with 9 points and 8 rebounds. Cochrane added 8 points and sophomore Kaylee Bambule had 7.