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Yesterday at Notre Dame High he may have faced one of his bigger challenges as his two-time defending state champion Red Bank Catholic girls took on No. 1 seed ND in the South Jersey Parochial A semifinals.
With his Caseys executing their deliberate offense perfectly, then sinking 14 of 21 foul shots in the final period, RBC shocked the Irish, 50-45, to move on to Tuesday's sectional finale at Lakewood against the winner of last night's Holy Spirit/St. John Vianney game.
Montano's decision to slow the tempo, combined with a sub-par game by Irish center Michelle Campbell, and an out-of-sync performance by the ND offense added up to Ann DeMille's team losing at home in their Parochial A state tourney opener for the second time in three years.
Montano's logic for dictating the tempo was obvious since it wasn't to the Casey's advantage to run with the taller Irish or get into a 3-point shootout with the likes of Danielle Wexler and Jackie Reddy.
"We took 35 shots against Toms River South last week and won by 11, then took 64 shots against Marlboro and lost by 25. So we said 'let's be patient today' and the less times Campbell got to touch the ball would be better for us," reasoned Montano.
It helped, too, when Campbell got two fouls in the first 5:29 of the game and sat out part of the second period.
RBC was collapsing its defense on Campbell, intercepting balls in the passing lanes and playing tight on Reddy and Wexler. That style, combined with a reluctance by other ND players to take open shots, and RBC's ability to take 30-40 seconds off the clock with good perimeter passing on each possession, seemed to bother the Irish repeatedly.
"What really hurt us was not playing in a week," DeMille was quick to point out. "It took us three quarters to start playing like we can.
"They beat us doing exactly what we thought they would. They'd get to the basket then dish it out for a three. We geared our practices to everything we knew they would do," she said.
What the 21-4 Irish didn't expect was that their shooting would be off (15-41), they would commit 16 turnovers and shoot 7-for-16 at the line while RBC went 22-for-34 at the stripe.
"We definitely didn't play our game, but I think it was more what we did to ourselves than what they (RBC) did to us," said Reddy, who ended a great career with 21 points on a career-best seven 3-pointers on 10 attempts.
For Reddy and her mates it was the second year they got bounced from the state tourney by RBC, only last season's 53-52 loss in the S.J. title game was ND's only defeat of the season.
"It's the same feeling as last year was," said Reddy, who kept ND in the game early with three 3-pointers.
Her third one got ND its final lead (15-14) at 2:52 of the second quarter, and although the Irish tied the game soon after (17-17) on a Bridget Catanese hoop, RBC led 22-17 at halftime on Heather Westfol's trey.
It went up 12 with an 8-1 run to start the third period, but two more Reddy threes kept the Irish within eight. When Campbell scored on a strong post move with 6:09 to play it was her first basket since she hit a layup and foul at 5:47 of the second period to give ND its next to last lead.
Despite the Caseys continual march to the foul line in the last period ND did get back within five (46-41) as Campbell hit two fouls and Reddy a three after an inbounds steal with 1:12 to play.
"No (RBC) team has ever won three straight state titles, so that motivated us today," said senior Woodfield, who along with junior Danielle Storz hit seven fouls in the last 2:10 to save RBC.
"As long as we could take her (Campbell) out of her game, even for a while, it helped us," said Montano. "We had her out of sync.
"But we knew Wexler and Reddy could hit threes and they would come back at us."
"A lot of people didn't have confidence we could do it, but we felt all along we could. In the first half nobody guarded Alisa Kresge (nine points in the half), but we knew exactly who we had to guard," Woodfield added. "We knew how hard Notre Dame would play, but we calmed down and kept our composure."
That was crucial in the Caseys' win as the familiarity of playing high-powered opponents like ND helped them down the stretch.
"No question those games with Christ the King, Marlboro and all the others prepared us," said Montano. "When we lost those games we didn't treat it as a loss but a way to better ourselves.
"I was proud of our kids down the stretch. With all the girls we lost (graduated) from last year, to come back and get to a South Jersey final again is so great
