Peyton Farrell, Montini’s ‘glue kid,’ keys gritty win over Neuqua Valley at Montini Christmas Tournament

LOMBARD – Things don’t often fall apart for Montini, but when they do, Peyton Farrell is there to pick up the pieces.

The 5-foot-9 senior guard/forward is the straw that never breaks.

“She is that glue kid,” Montini coach Shannon Spanos said. “She rebounds, she gets loose balls.

“She is the player that does all the dirty work and she doesn’t care if she gets recognition or anything.”

Farrell got plenty of recognition, especially from her teammates, for her efforts in helping the Broncos to a gritty 40-30 victory over Neuqua Valley in the first round of the Montini Christmas Tournament.

Farrell tallied 12 points, a game-high nine rebounds, two assists and two steals as the Broncos (9-3) overcame horrible shooting in the first half to pull away late. Montini will face Marist in the quarterfinals at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

“She brings a little bit of everything and I think that’s what makes our offense and just our play style work,” Montini senior point guard Nikki Kerstein said. “She is able to be a big body if we need her to but then she can also guard a guard as well.

“So she’s versatile, and we can count on her to get back tips, to get a stop, to get a rebound. Obviously, that’s what she did today and it was a big impact for us, especially in that second-half run that we had.”

The first half was a struggle for both teams. The Broncos shot 5 for 22 but led 11-6 at intermission because Neuqua Valley (5-7) shot 2 for 20.

Farrell and Kerstein had two baskets each in the first half and kept a positive mindset.

“I think it all comes down to defense and just finding those little things you’re doing well,” Farrell said. “Say your shots aren’t falling, the one thing you can always control is your defense.

“So if your shots aren’t falling, then get back and rebound, know who you have. Try to contribute in any other way, and that’s what we did. We held them to six points.”

Alexis May opened the second half with a jumper to pull the upset-minded Wildcats within 11-8. But the Missouri-bound Kerstein, who was an uncharacteristic 2 for 9 in the first half, scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the third quarter, including her team’s first seven points.

Kerstein sank back-to-back 3-pointers, the second of which came after her own steal, and Farrell followed with a driving layup and a putback off a missed Kerstein 3 to make it 22-8.

“Going into halftime our coaches reminded us that we have to shoot with confidence,” said Kerstein, who also had three rebounds, three steals and two assists. “We were taking good shots - they were shots that we do all the time - so we couldn’t second-guess our shots or doubt ourselves.

“We had to have confidence. That’s what I had. I had those two wide-open 3s right away and I just shot them with confidence and now we had a roll going.”

Indeed, even after Taylor Dobry beat the third-quarter buzzer with a layup for Neuqua, the Broncos kept rolling. Center Lauren Mellish scored inside and then Kerstein found Farrell for an inside bucket for a 32-16 lead at the 5:32 mark of the fourth quarter.

Farrell made all four of her shots in the second half, the last of which extended the lead to 38-20.

“She does a good job defensively of bringing it for us and she brings everybody else up to do the same,” Kerstein said. “We were getting a score and then we were getting a steal and that’s what was fueling our offense as well.”

Quinn Sigal had nine points, eight rebounds and two assists to lead Neuqua, which has been struggling offensively.

“There’s no magical words I can say right now,” Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams said. “We’ve got to figure out how to score more than 30-40 points a game.

“That’s our Achilles heel right now is to try to figure out our rhythm and how to get our offense flowing.”