Girls Basketball: Olivia Austin, Nazareth hold off Young to take Montini Tournament title

LOMBARD – Nazareth’s Olivia Austin didn’t leave anything to chance.

The junior forward rebounded a missed shot by fellow junior Danielle Scully and scored on a putback with 15 seconds remaining in the Montini Christmas Tournament championship game Dec. 30.

“I saw Dani shoot it,” Austin said. “Just decided to crash the boards, saw my opportunity and put it back up.

“I obviously trust my teammates. I thought Dani’s shot was going in, but I just wanted to be there and it was the right spot.”

Austin’s basket proved to be the decisive score as the Roadrunners recovered from blowing a 19-point lead to beat Young 62-58.

Senior Gracie Carstensen provided the finishing touches, rebounding a missed 3-point attempt by Young’s Destiny Jackson and sinking two free throws with 3.7 seconds left.

Carstensen scored six of her 18 points in the fourth quarter. All of them came at the free-throw line, where she was 6-for-6.

“I had made my other shots, so I was feeling pretty confident,” Carstensen said. “I’ve been shooting a lot of free throws with my dad and our whole team has had a lot of emphasis on making free throws because we’ve been kind of lacking on that.

“So the past few days the whole team decided we’re going to get in the gym and we’re going to shoot free throws. It was a huge focus.”

Despite the frantic finish, Nazareth coach Eddie Stritzel felt good with Carstensen at the line.

“When she got on the line, you know there’s no guarantees, but I felt it’s a senior and you want a senior on the line,” Stritzel said. “I was as confident as you can be. My money was on her on that.”

The Roadrunners (14-1) appeared to be a good bet to win after Young senior Skylar Jones picked up her fourth foul with 3:46 left in the second quarter.

Nazareth led 21-20 at that point, but feasted with Jones on the bench. The Roadrunners sank 10 3-pointers, with Christensen making four and Amalia Dray three.

Scully hit the final trey, which gave the Roadrunners a 48-29 cushion at the 4:22 mark of the third quarter.

The Missouri-bound Jones checked back in a minute later and the Dolphins (11-4) mounted a furious rally. Jones scored 18 of her game-high 24 points after that, almost all on driving layups. She made her final eight shots, the last of which tied the game at 58 with 29 seconds left.

“Skylar Jones is just a generational talent and then Destiny Jackson is a sophomore who will go Division I,” Stritzel said. “We were hoping to control them a little bit more but they’re hard to cover.

“I thought we had a chance to put it away and then we kind of let them hang on and when they have that much talent, they’re getting back in the game. They made it hairy.”

Jones and Jackson, who had 17 points, accounted for all but two of Young’s final 22 points. But Nazareth’s contributions were more spread out.

Scully paced the Roadrunners with 19 points. Carstensen had 18 points to go with six rebounds and three assists. Dray added nine points. Point guard Mary Bridget Wilson chipped in eight points, four assists and two steals, and Austin had all six of her points in the fourth quarter.

“This intensity was crazy,” Austin said. “The tensions were high and I think it’s going to help us later on when we have similar circumstances. We have to learn to stay strong under pressure.”

Carstensen said the Roadrunners will celebrate the tournament championship and then get back to work.

“It means a lot,” Carstensen said. “It’s obviously a confidence boost to win, but we’re really focused on our future and what’s going to happen in March and making a huge run.”

In the third-place game, Montini (11-3) got 15 points from Shea Carver to beat Lyons 50-36. Nora Ezike paced the Lions (13-3) with 14 points.

Young’s Jones was tournament MVP. Also on the All-Tournament First Team were Nazareth’s Carstensen and Dray, Lyons’ Ezike, Montini’s Shannon Blacher and York’s Mariann Blass.

Suburban Life area players who made the All Tournament Second Team were Nazareth’s Stella Sakalas, Lyons’ Kennedy Wanless and Montini’s Shea Carver.