Determined Drennan drives Lisle to victory
Jeff Javior has learned that there is little Colleen Drennan can't do when she puts her mind to it.
Lisle needed that attitude Tuesday night.
Drennan scored 18 points and pulled down 20 rebounds as the No. 2 seed Lions pulled away from pesky No. 3 Aurora Christian 45-27 at the Class 2A Lisle regional.
"She is one of the most determined athletes that we have," said Lisle coach Javior. "She has that desire. That want."
Javior called Drennan a big reason for Lisle's turnaround from a 10-win season a year ago to taking a 21-7 record into Thursday's regional final with top seed Westmont.
"She had a lot to prove to herself and to everybody else this year," Javior said. "She felt like she didn't have the best year her junior year, and she wanted to prove herself. Her sister (Erin), although they're best of friends, there's some competition there. She wants to live up to that Drennan tradition."
Javior was wary of looking past Aurora Christian to a rematch with Westmont. His anxiety was well-founded early. The two teams muddled through an unsightly first quarter, Lisle taking a 3-2 lead after eight minutes that featured 19 missed shots and 18 turnovers.
"No basketball game should ever start 3-2 after an entire quarter," Drennan said. "It was frustrating."
No points were scored for nearly seven minutes, until Drennan threw up a shot in the lane with 5:20 left in the second quarter for a 5-2 lead, touching off a 10-0 run.
"That first quarter was horrible," Javior said. "But they kept fighting and battling to do what they could to get to Thursday."
Lisle's 13-point halftime lead bulged to 22-7 on a Drennan basket a minute into the third quarter, but Aurora Christian had it down to 30-22 a minute into the fourth.
From there Drennan dropped in a putback, the first basket in an 11-0 spurt that all but put the game away. Drennan had 6 more points during that stretch.
Jackie Todd added 14 points for Lisle.
"I stay on the left-side corner all game," Drennan said, "and the second the shot goes up I run around and find the nearest person on the other team, and get in between them and the basket. It makes it a lot easier to get a rebound."
Yvette Lira scored 10 points, Alyssa Henzel had 11 rebounds and Deana Cadena 8 points for Aurora Christian (6-20). With freshman Lisa Rodriguez in the starting lineup and sophomore Cori Flowers seeing significant action, Tuesday was a learning experience for a young team that graduates just one senior.
"Our young kids battled," Aurora Christian coach Dan Stone said. "I wanted them to come up and have all this great experience. We have to build on it."
Lisle's future is in the immediate - a grudge match with nememis Westmont. The Sentinels beat Lisle three times last year, including in regionals, and won at Lisle in January.
"It's payback time," Drennan said.