Montini repeats defeat of Mother McAuley

There was a limit to the adjustments Mother McAuley could make for Montini post players Lindsey Jarosinski and Aaliyah Patty.

A week after defeating the Mighty Macs by 29 points in GCAC Red play, the Broncos had a harder time Friday night in the Montini Christmas Tournament semifinals. Still, the Broncos won 54-35.

The No. 1-seeded Broncos (17-1) will play No. 2 Geneva (13-0) in the tournament championship game at 8:15 p.m. Saturday, a matchup Montini coach Jason Nichols called the "ultimate test."

"Geneva's the best right now," he added. "They're defending state champs. They look good. They look good."

Montini clearly was the better team Friday, leading from start to finish.

"We knew it would be a tougher game," Nichols said. "When you play a team a week later that you put a little bit of a hurting on, you're not going to do that (again). Mother McAuley is too good. The McAuley kids love playing for Ashley (Luke Clanton, a Waubonsie Valley graduate). She's a good coach. We knew it would be a battle and a grind."

Montini didn't pull away until a 14-4 fourth quarter.

"I thought our kids came and battled harder than we did last week," Clanton said. "I'm proud of them for the 8-point spread at the half. We were right there at the end and then it pops."

Jarosinski led the way with 18 points, surpassing the 1,000-point milestone in the fourth quarter.

"It's exciting, but I'm not all about scoring," the 6-foot-5 Wake Forest recruit said. "It's exciting, I'm happy about it. But I like to focus on other things too."

Nichols pointed out 1,000 points is a difficult milestone to reach at Montini because the Broncos have so many players who can score and so many blowouts that limit the starters' playing time.

"That makes that impressive," he said. "A kid gets 1,000 for us, that's monstrous."

The 6-3 Patty, an Ohio State recruit, added 11 points and 4 assists, all to Jarosinski.

"Aaliyah was giving me real good passes. The high-low was really working with us in double post," Jarosinski said.

The Mighty Macs tried to deny entry passes to the low post but eventually wore down.

"We're very undersized," Clanton said. "It wears. The whole game you're trying to shift things and throw a second kid. A lot of effort that has to be put in. I don't think there's another team in the state with two kids that big."