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Montini routs Trinity

The Montini girls basketball team can score in bunches. That's already been established; the Broncos are averaging 73 points per game so far this season.

But what you might not realize is the team is pretty intense on defense as well. Take Tuesday's Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Red Division opener against rival Trinity.

Using a swarming, in-your-face defensive approach shifting between man and a 2-3 matchup zone, Montini held the Blazers to just 21 percent shooting from the field, forced 20 turnovers and outrebounded Trinity 30-20, including 12 on the offensive end.

Meanwhile, Montini used first-half runs of 11-0, 7-0 and 9-0 that made the second half pretty much academic.

As a result, Montini walked away with a 72-33 victory to improve to 6-0 overall and 1-0 in the GCAC Red.

It's scary to think, but in Montini coach Jason Nichols' mind, that defense could be even better.

"We're long, we're athletic, (and) we understand what we're trying to accomplish," Nichols said. "Here's the thing - our defense is good. It can be better. We'll get better because offenses are going to get better.

"We're still not rotating and doing things that teams will exploit us later on as they get more comfortable running their offenses."

It may be an overused cliché, but defenses win championships. But senior forward Aaliyah Patty, who had 9 points and 11 rebounds, said to look deeper.

"Offense comes when our defense comes," Patty said. "When we play defense, our shots are going to fall. Coach has always told us that. They had a couple of shooters on the 3-point line, (so we worked on) getting our hands up in front of them so they couldn't knock down shots, getting our hands up so they couldn't get it to the high post."

But don't forget that the Broncos can score. Coming into the contest, they had beaten their first five opponents by an average of 52.4 points. It wasn't that dramatic against Trinity, but still, plenty effective.

Junior guard Sam Mitchell scored 12 in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers, to stake Montini to a 20-7 lead at its conclusion. In the second quarter, with Nichols admonishing senior guard Illyse Pitts to shoot the 3 "all day," she responded with a pair after six misses early misses. She added two more in the second half. She and Mitchell led the Broncos with 17 points apiece.

"I just feed off her energy," Pitts said, gesturing to Mitchell. "When she's shooting well, I shoot well. When she's not shooting well, we feed off each other's energy. After the first couple of misses, I was focusing on getting my arm up and getting them to go in."

Added Mitchell: "I just came out ready for this game. We had to get it done. (Pitts) wasn't hitting shots and I was like, all right, I've got to step up."

Junior guard Frankie Kokkines added 12 for Montini, while senior center Lindsey Jarosinski chipped in 8.

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