Suburban Life girls basketball notes: Montini’s Nikki Kerstein puts on a 36-point show in ‘Hoosiers’ gym

Nikki Kerstein was born nearly 20 years after the movie “Hoosiers” was released, but, yes, the Montini senior guard said she’s watched it a couple times with her parents.

She put on a show-stopping performance in the iconic gym Saturday.

Kerstein, a Missouri recruit, scored a career-high 36 points to lead Montini past Indianapolis Bishop Chatard 73-52 at the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Indiana.

“Definitely I had a hot hand in that game,” Kerstein said. “My teammates were able to find me and get the ball in my hands. We worked as a collective, and everything was going for us.

“The whole gym was different, the court had two half-court lines. There was almost different rules for how we were playing. It was a little different shooting in the gym, but it wasn’t too big of a challenge. We figured it out in warmups.”

Indeed, Kerstein shot 13-for-25 from the floor, including 5-for-12 from the 3-point line, and made 5 of 6 free throws.

“Nikki shot the ball very well. When Nikki is on, it’s a pretty incredible thing to watch,” Montini coach Shannon Spanos said. “They were trying to faceguard her, and they couldn’t stay with her. She has the ability to score at all three levels and did in that game.”

Spanos had heard of other programs playing games in the famous gymnasium where the 1986 film “Hoosiers” was filmed and had looked into it for a couple years. Teams must reserve the gym and get a team to play them. Fortunately for Montini, a family member of one of the Lady Broncos' players is the coach at Bishop Chatard. Montini’s boys team also got a game in.

Spanos said the gym is preserved to look exactly like the movie, the home of the “Hickory Huskers” in Hoosiers. Spanos got a DVD of the movie, and the Montini team watched it on the bus ride down.

“It was a really cool environment, a pretty intimate setting,” Spanos said. “The court is very small. You are almost touching the walls out of bounds. It was one of our better shooting games, and we thought, ‘We have to play in more gyms like this.’”

As a tradition for teams playing in the Hoosiers gym, Kerstein and her teammates signed a Montini jersey and left it hanging in the locker room with other teams that have played there.

“It was one of the coolest basketball experiences I’ve ever been a part of,” Spanos said.

Spanos is looking to give her Montini girls those kinds of experiences. The day after the game in Indiana, Montini (6-3) played Phillips at Chicago’s Malcolm X College as a late addition to the Chicago Elite Classic.

“Good to get the girls out of their element,” Spanos said.

Spanos has challenged Kerstein to go beyond her element this season. One of the most talented passing point guards around, Kerstein is taking on a greater scoring role after Montini graduated four starters – including all-time leading scorer Victoria Matulevicius – off last year’s team that took third in Class 3A.

“We lost a lot of our starters, so I had to pick up on that scoring role. Coach has held me accountable and told me numerous times I have to score,” Kerstein said. “It has been different, not what I’m used to, but I’ve been able to figure it out.”

Benet’s sweet-shooting Mazza

Aria Mazza is shooting so well, not even sickness can keep her down.

The Benet senior guard last week came down with a 102-degree fever. She missed two practices, but you’d have hardly noticed it this past Saturday.

Mazza shot 8-for-10 from beyond the 3-point line, her second game back, in Benet’s win over Lake Zurich.

“Funny thing is, earlier in the week I was on my deathbed. Second game back, adrenalin kicked in,” Mazza said. “I was hacking up a storm, but I was grateful to be back playing.”

Just another night at the office for Mazza, who made 4-of-7 threes in a big 81-70 win over Kenwood and is shooting 40% from the 3-point line on the young season.

“I just continued to shoot a lot in the offseason, got to the gym, that was the main focus,” Mazza said. “The other main thing was working on my speed so I can guard a little more.”

Mazza is a big reason why Benet has won seven in a row since its season-opening loss at Lyons. The Redwings have a big one Saturday, at Nazareth.

“We’ve been doing really well but I think there is a lot of room for improvement,” Mazza said. “We have a group of girls that can get better. We have 19 girls, which is a lot, but every single girl comes with a positive mindset.

“We are really athletic, and we have a lot of people that can guard. Our 1s and our 5s can guard multiple positions. It’s beneficial to how we play.”

Lyons, Benet tops in AP poll

The area is well-represented in the latest Associated Press statewide polls. Lyons is No. 1 in Class 4A, up from third in the previous poll, Benet is No. 2, and Nazareth is No. 5. Montini is ranked No. 8 in Class 3A.

Montini tournament pairings

The pairings and schedule for the Montini Christmas Tournament, which runs Dec. 23-28, are out. First-round games in the 16-team event, in bracketed order, include Fremd-Burlington Central, Naperville North-York, Marist-St. Francis, Montini-Neuqua Valley, Prospect-Geneva, Lyons-St. Laurence, Benet-Hinsdale South and St. Charles East-Thornton.