Girls Basketball: Sophie Sullivan, Montini have plenty to smile about with third-place game win

NORMAL – Sophie Sullivan took some playful ribbing from her coach about an air ball she shot Saturday.

She had plenty to smile about.

Sullivan, and Montini, did not make the 3-point shot this year with the efficiency of previous Lady Broncos' teams. Sullivan, a sophomore guard, actually shot better as a freshman. But she was on the money Saturday.

Sullivan made four of Montini's 10 3-pointers, and the Lady Broncos bounced back from their semifinal loss to beat Springfield Lanphier 55-43 in the third-place game at Redbird Arena.

Sullivan hit two early 3-pointers, and two more in the second quarter. Her fourth, the ball hit the front of the rim, bounced up and dropped in.

"My teammates were really good at getting me the ball and I was wide open. So I was going to shoot it," said Sullivan, who shot 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and scored a team-high 15 points.

Montini (33-5), starting four sophomores, won its 10th state trophy since 2008. Of that full trophy case, four are championships and five are third-place finishes.

The Lady Broncos never trailed Saturday, leading 18-9 after a quarter, 36-14 by halftime and by as many as 25.

"That's really nice to walk out of here with a win nine out of 10 times," Montini coach Jason Nichols said. "Even though we don't have nine state championships we got a victory here on the last day and that's kind of important."

Junior Taris Thornton, one of the older players on a Montini team that plays 11 sophomores or freshmen, made her presence felt with 12 points, six rebounds and two assists. The 6-foot forward was Montini's leading rebounder with six against Simeon, but foul trouble limited her to 12 minutes.

"The biggest thing today was getting Taris Thornton at the high post," Nichols said. "We did that a bunch of times and she's so explosive. I think you saw why [Friday] not having her hurt us. When Taris is right, she's pretty darn good."

Montini was 10-for-28 from the 3-point line for the game, 9-for-23 through three quarters with six makes coming in the first half.

Freshman guard Shannon Blacher, who didn't play in the Simeon game, scored all eight of her points in the second quarter. She knocked down two 3-pointers, then made a nice aggressive drive for a score.

"When coach put me in I wanted to make an impact," Blacher said. "I was wide open, I have to shoot the ball. I shot it and it fell in."

It didn't fall in for the team with quite the frequency Montini has had in the past.

Despite its success this year, Nichols called this his worst 3-point shooting team. His top three shooters shot less than 28% from beyond the arc. Montini was 6-for-52 in two sectional wins, and just 6-for-22 against Simeon which is about on par for the year.

But Taylor Charles, Olivia Mezan, Alexia Salazar and Alena Anderson all made threes on Saturday.

"Today it seemed like we shot the ball better, but that's been few and far between this year," Nichols said. "That's somewhere where there can be a lot of growth. That's something to develop."

The Lady Broncos will have ample opportunity to develop, with 13 of 15 girls underclassmen. They didn't leave Redbird with first prize, but there were lessons learned.

"I learned that every little thing matters," Sullivan said. "Every possession matters."

Senior Sydney Prochaska, who will play collegiately at Southern Illinois, appreciated going out on a high note.

"It's so nice to be able to have a win in my last game," Prochaska said. "I know a lot of girls don't get to have that last game with a win. It's awesome to go out with a bang."