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Win over Benet has Montini feeling better

It's safe to say Montini is feeling healthy again after perhaps its most injury-filled season.

The top-seeded Broncos sure did feel good after defeating No. 2 Benet 54-31 at the Class 4A Proviso West sectional final on Thursday night in Hillside. Montini (32-2), which still hasn't lost to an Illinois team this season, will meet Bolingbrook at 7 p.m. Monday at the Lewis University supersectional.

Few saw the lopsided nature of Thursday's game coming.

"I didn't either," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "They're a really good team. They have so many threats. I was worried about all their shooters. I thought their bigs could've matched our bigs in regards to height."

Senior guard Illysse Pitts has been hampered by shin splints much of the season, and junior point guard Sam Mitchell missed time with a sprained ankle. Each scored 17 points and combined made seven of the Broncos' eight 3-point shots. Neither seemed bothered by their injuries.

"Oh yeah, we're feeling pretty good," Pitts said.

"We're feeling good, getting back into our rhythm," added Mitchell, the two of them on their way to get ice for their injuries.

It was just what the Broncos needed.

"I made a comment to one of our coaches before this game," said Nichols, whose team has been without junior guard Zoe Zacker virtually all season due to a torn ACL, "that Illysse has to step up this game, and she did."

So did Mitchell.

"Sam's awesome. She helps us so much. She makes everybody else around her better. We're a better team (with) her," Nichols added.

The Broncos took the lead from the start and never gave it up. They jumped ahead 17-9 after one quarter on a Pitts 3-pointer. A pair of Mitchell 3s, followed by a Pitts 3 late in the second quarter gave Montini a comfortable 32-16 halftime advantage.

"Our bigs didn't do a lot tonight," Nichols said, "but they were pressing and trapping us, which created odd-man breaks. And when you create odd-man breaks, we can hit the 3-ball. So we did a great job of beating their press, and it allowed us some open looks, which to me was awesome."

Junior forward Lauren Stack led the Redwings (28-5) with 9 points, and junior guard Clara Prasse added 8.

"I thought we got decent shots, we just shot the ball horribly," said Benet coach Joe Kilbride, whose team made 9 of 31 shots through three quarters and finished 8 of 19 at the free-throw line. "I mean even free throws we couldn't make. I thought our defense on their bigs was pretty good. We just didn't make shots. And we didn't turn them over in the full court, so now you're not getting any easy ones. Everything we did we had to do against their defense, and they play good 'D' in the half-court."

It was the 14th consecutive sectional championship for Montini.

"It means we've had a lot of great players, we've had some luck and we've had some good teams," Nichols said. " ... It's a heck of an accomplishment. I mean, to get to 14 straight. Not only to get to 14 straight but to win 14 straight is pretty incredible. It says a lot about our girls."

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