Bambule, Montini beat back Marshall
Kaylee Bambule has been a big part of the success of the Montini girls basketball team all season.
As evidenced by a 3-3 stretch when she was out of the lineup with an injury that occurred Dec. 27 against Huntley, the Broncos are simply better when she's on the floor hitting shots.
Thursday night in the Class 3A Orr sectional championship game against Marshall, Bambule was at her best, hitting 6 of Montini's dozen 3-pointers on the night en route to a 54-48 win.
"We did a great job. That's a really good team - an athletic team. But I'm proud of our girls," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "They were more athletic than us and they were physically a little bit bigger than us, but we were tough. And that's what mattered because we were tough as nails tonight."
After an uncharacteristically poor shooting night against Glenbard South in their gritty 34-31 semifinal win Tuesday, it was clear early that Montini wouldn't have such problems against Marshall.
The Commandos pressured the ball relentlessly early, forcing 6 first-quarter turnovers, but Montini's shooting kept them in it. The Broncos scored all 12 of their first-quarter points from beyond the arc as Marshall took a 13-12 lead to the end of the first.
In the second quarter Montini took the lead back on an Emily Cochrane 3-pointer on the first possession. After ties at 15 and 17, the Broncos took another lead on another 3-pointer, this time from senior Kelsey Bogdan. However, Marshall responded with a 7-0 run and took a 26-24 lead to the half.
After the break a 3-pointer from Marshall's Tineesha Coleman gave the Commandos a 36-31 lead with just more than four minutes to play. However, Montini once again hit big-time shots to narrow the gap.
A 3-pointer from Lea Kernstein tied the game at 36 and then another 3-pointer from Bambule gave Montini a 39-36 lead. It was a lead they never relinquished.
"(Our shooters) space the floor for us and give us driving lanes. Tonight, they gave us shots and we hit them," Nichols said.
In the fourth quarter both teams went cold for a stretch before Juliunn Redmond broke the scoreless drought at the 4:30 mark to make it 42-40 in favor of Montini. However, that's where Bambule took over.
A couple minutes later the sophomore guard hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 45-40. The next trip down, she drove the lane and found Rainey Kuykendall on a sweet dish for an easy lay-in. On the very next possession, she buried her sixth 3-pointer of the night to make it 50-42 with less than a minute to play.
"Coach took me out and was saying, 'You need to hit a big shot.' So I wanted to do it for him because I know he really wanted this," Bambule said.
Bambule led Montini with 18 points and Kuykendall chipped in 10. Marshall's Tekia Mack led all scorers with 20.