Mitchell helps Montini come from behind to beat Kenwood
Sam Mitchell has still got the touch.
The Montini junior guard missed significant chunks of the season with knee and ankle injuries, but it hasn't affected her ability to shoot.
In her first action since missing three weeks with a sprained ankle, Mitchell scored 7 of her 11 points in the fourth quarter, including the decisive 3-pointer. That propelled the top-seeded Broncos past Kenwood 45-39 in Tuesday's Class 4A Proviso West sectional semifinals.
Montini (31-2), which still has not lost to an Illinois team this season, will play second-seeded Benet (28-4) in Thursday's sectional championship game.
"Sam is gutsy," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "Sam is awesome. She was huge."
Indeed, Mitchell was at her best down the stretch as the Broncos rallied from a 22-13 halftime deficit. Her layup with 6:20 left in the fourth quarter gave Montini its largest lead to that point, 35-29, but she made an even bigger play five minutes later.
Kenwood (27-6) had pulled within 39-38 and had just missed two shots that would have given it the lead. Forward Aaliyah Patty made a pass from the top of the circle to a wide-open Mitchell, who swished a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:27 to go.
"I've always been a big fan of pressure, and when I know it's important and the game is coming down (to the end), we find a way to win," Mitchell said. "It's all of us; not just one specific person.
"We find a way and that's what we did. I knew I needed to hit it, so that's what I did."
After Kenwood center Tamara Nard split a pair of free throws to make it 42-39, Mitchell was fouled and sank both ends of a 1-and-1 with 59 seconds left. Fellow guard Frankie Kokkines then made a steal and split a pair of free throws with 32.3 ticks left to ice it.
"Those are great moments," said Kokkines, who made four straight foul shots at one point. "I missed them in the first half, but I just took my time, relaxed a little bit and it just came to me in the second half."
Kokkines said the Broncos never panicked despite the 9-point halftime deficit.
"All of us have trust in each other and even in the hard times we have to look positive," Kokkines said. "I think we did a great job of doing that."
There were plenty of hard times for Montini, which went scoreless for over seven minutes in the first quarter. Mitchell and Kokkines combined for just 3 points in the first half as the Broncos shot 5 for 21 from the floor and 1 for 5 from the line and turned it over 10 times.
But Patty, who tallied 12 points to share game-high scoring honors with Kenwood's Shania Jackson and Jonaie Johnson, drained a pair of 3s during an 8-0 run to start the third quarter, and Kokkines later added all 6 of her points in addition to 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists.
Center Lindsey Jarosinki added 11 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks for Montini, which clearly feels more comfortable offensively with Mitchell in the lineup.
"She's a great shooter and a great teammate, always motivating us, so it really helped having her back," Kokkines said. "The pace of the game speeds up a lot so we're really thankful to have her back."
Mitchell, who practiced her shooting every day despite wearing a boot during her injury, is thankful to be back.
"It was brutal, and honestly for a while I was a little scared," Mitchell said. "It's hard coming back from injuries, but when you have great teammates like that, it makes it easier."