Nothing came easy for one of the areas top-ranked teams on Wednesday night, but Montini was able to prevail in its Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division opener with a 61-39 win at St. Edward.
The Broncos had to fight off a slow start as they led just 24-18 at the break before pulling away in the second half.
“I am a little dumfounded that we are not coming more ready to play,” said Montini coach Jason Nichols. “But until our practice habits improve and our approach to games get better we are going to have some struggles. We are certainly not playing like a team with three division one prospects. Talent can only take you so far. We have to start putting in the work.”
Montini (5-1, 1-0) finally broke the game open in the third quarter with a 13-0 run to go up 43-23 late in the period. The Lady Broncos knocked down five three pointers in the third quarter and had a total of nine in the game.
“ They were switching to a lot of zone, so we put in our shooters,” said Nichols. “We were able to spread them out and hit some shots. It’s nice to have the ability and skill set to match up equally against a zone and man-to-man.”
Kateri Stone scored 14 of her game-high 21 points in the second half, including three three-pointers in the third quarter.
“Coach got us motivated,” said Stone. “We started slow again. It’s been a little rough for us at the start. We are not playing as well as we would like. As a senior I take full responsibility. The biggest thing is we have to work harder in practice and start challenging ourselves and I think that will transition over to games.”
St. Edward (3-3, 0-1) was plagued by 21 turnovers. Cece Rapp had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Green Wave. Kelly Karlis finished with 12 and Lea Kerstein added 11 points. for the winners.
