Montini freshman Sullivan shows the way
Sophie Sullivan might have felt like a freshman Tuesday night, but she didn't play like it.
The Montini point guard led the Broncos with 16 points, getting them off to a good start in a 54-39 girls basketball victory at the Class 4A Hinsdale South sectional semifinals. The Broncos will face Benet in a sectional final for the second consecutive year looking for their 15th straight sectional championship.
Sullivan made a 3-pointer to start the game and hit 4 of 5 first-half shots. What nerves?
"I just had to focus on my shot and focus on the front of the rim and I knew I could make my shots," Sullivan said.
"I thought she looked nervous," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "The last two days in practice I've seen more airballs out of her than I've seen all season. I said to my assistant, I go, she looks like she's scared out of her wits. And then she goes bang, bang. So what the (heck) do I know?"
The Broncos led by 10 at halftime, but St. Ignatius went on an 11-2 run to open the third quarter. Montini answered by putting on a full-court press, and it generated six straight turnovers and a 9-0 run to end the third quarter.
Just like that the Broncos had their 10-point lead back.
"We lost all momentum that I thought we could have just playing our regular defense," Nichols said. "So then we amped it up and they just couldn't even get it across half-court. I was excited that we were able to get it up to 10. That was a blessing. So it was 35-30 and then we got another 5 to end that quarter and that was ginormous because I was going to take 6 or 7."
By the time the Wolfpack scored again, only 3:10 remained in the game, a drought of almost eight minutes. Their chance was gone.
Montini seniors Zoe MacKay Zacker added 10 points and Frankie Kokkines added 9.
The Broncos (30-4) won despite making just 15 of 26 free throws, 8 of 14 in the fourth quarter.
"Good win not playing very well," Nichols said. "Our free throws down the stretch were terrible. Our rebounding was not very good. So we've got to be better in the next game, but we'll take it."