FREEPORT — This time, Lombard Montini shot well.
It still might not have been enough if Freeport had remained calmer in its frenetic rally in the final two minutes. Montini, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A girls basketball, upset No. 1 Freeport 51-47 Saturday night when Caitlin Greene’s 3-pointer to tie bounced off the front rim with three seconds to play.
Montini shot 48 percent (21 of 44) and made six 3-pointers after shooting only 20 percent in last year’s state semifinal loss to the Pretzels.
“We can shoot,” Montini coach Jason Nichols said. “We’re streaky, but we can shoot.”
The Broncos (7-1) were hottest in a 14-0 run that gave them a 50-40 lead with 2:31 to play. Courtney Shiffer made two free throws and, after a Montini turnover, Katie Norman made two free throws to pull Freeport to within 50-44.
The Pretzels (7-1) then forced four more turnovers in a row – but turned it right back with three straight turnovers of their own.
“That just killed me,” Montini’s Nichols said. “It took 10 years off my life.”
The Pretzels kept trying to force the ball inside instead of taking a 3-pointer.
“We did go a little too fast,” Norman (14 points) said. “We came up empty a lot of times. We’d force a turnover and then come up with nothing on our end. That hurt us.”
Finally, Norman settled for a 3, and made it to cut it to 50-47 with 34 seconds left. After Montini star point guard Whitney Holloway (eight points) missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 29 seconds left, Freeport had a chance to tie, and Greene just missed.
Before the Broncos’ run, Freeport had been in command. Suporia Dickens (20 points) had eight points in a 15-0 run that put the Pretzels ahead 33-24 early in the third quarter.
Montini then made four 3-pointers in the next eight minutes to retake the lead.
“They got on a little run, that’s all it was,” Dickens said. “I think if we play again, we’d win.”
Freeport returned all but one player from its top eight from a year ago, while Montini returned eight key players, gained a star transfer in Marquette-bound 6-foot-1 guard Courtney Thomas, but lost 6-3 all-state center Michala Johnson. She was ruled out for the season Thursday with a torn ACL.
“None of us were happy to hear that,” Norman said. “If we play a team that’s good, we want to play their best, and she’s their best.”
Even though the players remained mostly the same, this had nothing to do with last year.
“Someone mentioned that this was revenge,” Montini’s Nichols said, “and I wanted to throw him out the window. It was just a good win against a good team, and to come from nine points down was great.”
And it was a great lesson for the Pretzels.
“You learn from every game,” Norman said. “If we see them again – which would be in the state championship – we’ll know some things we need to do better.”
Matt Trowbridge, rrstar.com
