NORMAL, Ill — Montini’s offense had stagnated in the fourth quarter. St. Ignatius ratcheted up the pressure, and the Broncos were looking for answers.
After leading by as many as 10 points, Montini found itself trailing after senior forward Reganne Reardon converted a layup. The Broncos then missed five consecutive shots as the Wolfpack started sending two defenders to cover Missouri commit Nikki Kerstein.
During a timeout, Montini coach Lily Spanos told her team that “everybody’s got to be a threat.” Those words would prove to be key because it wasn’t Kerstein who allowed the Broncos to regain the lead, it was forward Audrey Kinney. Kinney caught the ball after Kerstein was double-teamed and passed it to Sophie Maquet, who swung it to Kinney and drove to the basket for a layup.
“I really wasn’t thinking,” Kinney said of the play. “The adrenaline was really high. Earlier in the game, I wasn’t really doing much offensively and I saw the open lane and took the layup.”
Montini never trailed again in the 50-44 victory in the Class 3A state championship game over St. Ignatius at CEFCU Arena. It’s the first state title for the Broncos since the 2013-14 season, avenging last season’s semifinal loss to Lincoln.
“I was telling my team when we were coming down here, ‘I’m not leaving [without] getting first place,’ ” said Kerstein, who scored 21 points and drew 10 fouls.
For Kerstein, this was her third state championship appearance.
The Broncos had a bumpy road to get to Normal. They lost 10 games this season, the most by a state championship-winning team since at least the 1976-77 season.
Kerstein orchestrates Montini’s offense with her superb passing skills and outstanding vision. But the Broncos’ defense powered them to the title.
“That’s been our calling card during these playoffs,” Spanos said. “Sometimes shots are not going to fall, but the one thing you can control is your effort on defense, and they bought into that.”
Montini led for most of the game because of its tenacious defense, holding St. Ignatius to 39.5% from the field and 20% from three.
For Spanos, this was a special group. The seniors were the first group she saw develop over four years.
The Broncos weren’t loaded with star talent or had a height advantage on most nights, but everyone on the roster understood that for them to win and avenge last season’s semifinal loss, each player would have to buy into their roles.
“We continue to talk about it; we don’t want to feel that again,” Kerstein said. “We wanted our revenge. We wanted to finish the job off this time. So we really took accountability for what we did and took our roles and excelled in them.”