Montini avenges loss to Burlington Central
With a packed house including a raucous student section, Burlington Central was ready to welcome the state's No. 1 ranked Class 4A team, Montini on Friday night.
But not as ready as Montini was for the Rockets.
The Broncos had revenge on their minds. They had very good memories of Burlington Central's 51-37 victory last year on Montini's home court.
Montini gave the home fans almost nothing to cheer about, holding Burlington Central to 3 points in the first quarter, 1 in the second and 4 in the third en route to a 61-19 thrashing.
“We wanted redemption, redemption, redemption,” said junior guard Claudia Kunzer, who led a balanced Montini attack with 12 points. “I still remember and our whole team still remembers what it felt like losing at home. We knew they were going to have a packed house and we couldn't let that affect us. We knew we needed to shut them up. We knew if we let them back in the game that crowd would get going and the momentum would be on their side. We knew we couldn't let that happen.”
Montini (23-1) never did. The Broncos made the Rockets look like a 3-18 team, not the 18-3, No. 8-ranked team in 3A that they are.
Burlington Central made just 1 of 9 shots in the first quarter and missed all 10 in the second. The Rockets finished shooting 16.2 percent (7-for-43), thanks to 8 fourth-quarter points from Kayla Ross including 4 on breakaway layups as nothing came easy in the half-court sets.
The Broncos did it with a 2-3 zone that made it a priority to stop Sam Pryor and Shelby Holt, who combined for 7 points.
“Tonight we had to scheme and do some different things to take away their strengths and I thought we answered the bell,” Montini coach Jason Nichols said. “Our biggest thing I thought everything ran through Pryor. It was basically about making somebody beat you besides 34 (Pryor) and 12 (Holt) and I think we did that. I thought we were pretty awesome.”
Holt hit an early 3-pointer to bring Burlington Central within 4-3. Montini followed with an 18-0 run to quiet the big crowd and lead 22-3, an advantage that stood at 26-4 at halftime.
Six-foot-5 Lindsey Jarosinski scored 8 of her 10 points in the first half.
Nikki Oppenheimer opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer and Kunzer ended it with another 3 for a 40-8 lead. The Rockets, who opened the season with an 111-point game, didn't reach 10 points until 7:19 remained in the fourth quarter.
“A little disappointed,” Burlington Central coach Mark Smith said. “I thought we were a little nervous in the beginning. They have been putting a whipping on a lot of teams. Nothing you can do about it.”
Jarosinski led Montini with 7 rebounds; the Broncos outrebounded the Rockets 38-16. That was just one of basically every stat in Montini's favor.
“He (Nichols) knew who to stop,” Smith said. “Not what we wanted but it's one game and we move on from here. Hopefully this gives us a feeling of excitement and nerves before a big game and it is something we can use to our advantage when we play in the regionals and sectionals. That is about the only way you can look at it.”