Girls Basketball: Stella Sakalas, Nazareth handle hosts at Montini Christmas Tournament

Nazareth's Stella Sakalas (32) sinks a 3-point shot against Montini during the semifinals of the Montini Christmas Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022.

LOMBARD – Stella Sakalas may be young, but she’s got an old-school basketball game.

The Nazareth freshman excels at something that has become a lost art.

“The beauty of her is she’s so unique,” Nazareth coach Eddie Stritzel said. “She’s got the best midrange game that I’ve ever coached.

“From 15 in, most kids struggle in that range, but she’s mastered that part of it already. She’s starting to stretch her range out to the 3-point arc, and she showed it tonight.”

Indeed, the 6-foot Sakalas was impressive from wherever she was on the floor Thursday night, scoring a career-high 23 points on 10-for-11 shooting to lead the Roadrunners to a 65-45 victory over Montini at the Montini Christmas Tournament semifinals.

Nazareth (13-1) will play Young, a 53-47 winner over Lyons, in the championship game at 8:15 p.m. Friday.

Montini's Victoria Matulevicius (5) drives in for a shot against Nazareth during the semifinals of the Montini Christmas Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022.

The Roadrunners, who remain unbeaten against Illinois opponents, jumped out to an early 12-3 lead before junior center Danielle Scully went to the bench after picking up her second foul. She was replaced by Sakalas.

Montini (10-3) trimmed the deficit to 12-9 on back-to-back 3-pointers from Victoria Matulevicius and Shannon Blacher. But Sakalas answered with a 3-pointer, then made a deflection that led to an Amalia Dray trey.

“She’s amazing,” Scully said of Sakalas. “She comes in with energy, and everything she does is, ‘I’m going to do this for my team.’

“When she saw that me and Grace [Carstensen] were in foul trouble, she really took over. She really brought our team up.”

Indeed, Sakalas scored 14 of Nazareth’s 20 points in the second quarter, including the final eight. That allowed the Roadrunners to take a 38-26 halftime lead even though Carstensen sat out the final five minutes of the second quarter after getting her third foul.

“We needed her, because we got in foul trouble,” Stritzel said. “Our two best scorers were on the bench for pretty much the whole second quarter.”

Sakalas buried all three of her 3-point attempts, but she was just as dangerous when taking shorter shots. She showed nice touch on three midrange jumpers around the lane in the second quarter, then scored three layups in the second half to help the Roadrunners break Montini’s press.

“It was great passing from my team,” Sakalas said. “The defense was packed in, so it was great passing from the point guard to push it up the floor and kick it out to the corners.”

That led to Nazareth sinking eight 3-pointers. But Sakalas’ midrange shooting also softened up Montini’s defense, allowing Scully and Carstensen to score on drives in the third quarter and extend the lead to 20.

Montini's Alyssa Epps (21) and Nazareth's Stella Sakalas (32) struggle for control of the ball during the 2nd quarter of the semifinals at the Montini Catholic Christmas Tournament on Thursday, December 29, 2022.

“I like to use the midrange, because everyone is obviously looking for the layup or the 3, and the midrange is always unaccounted for,” Sakalas said. “So instead of getting them off from 3, getting away from the defender off the dribble and hitting the midrange is what I like to do.”

While Sakalas said she still needs to work on her defense, she did make three steals, one of which she converted into a layup for a 54-38 lead with 6:24 to go in the fourth quarter.

Matulevicius scored 17 points, and the Northern Illinois-bound Blacher tallied 10 of her 15 points after intermission. They rallied the Broncos within 54-43 with 5:50 left.

But Sakalas scored twice off press breaks, then made another steal which led to Dray sinking two free throws.

Dray finished with 15 points, while Scully added 10 points and Carstensen eight points to go with six of the Roadrunners’ 16 steals.

Sakalas said she wasn’t surprised at how the Roadrunners jumped out to a big lead, and Stritzel wasn’t shocked by her performance.

“She’s a sensational player,” Stritzel said. “She can play all five positions.

“I love our whole freshman group, but Stella really showed that she’s a big-time player. She’s going to be at a Power Five school.”

Montini's Shannon Blacher (14) takes a shot against the Nazareth during semifinals of the Montini Catholic Christmas Tournament on Thursday, December 29, 2022.