Rosary youngsters making strides
Rosary junior Taylor Drozdowski is the kind of team player any coach would love to have.
When Megan Conlin went down with a knee injury last year, Drozdowski shifted from the wing to become an undersized power forward.
Fast forward to the start of Rosary's season this winter. With four-year standout Quincy Kellett out for their season-opening tournament at IMSA, Drozdowski is again changing positions for the good of the team - this time to point guard.
Drozdowski showed her versatility Thursday, scoring a game-high 19 points with 4 steals in Rosary's 51-46 victory over Indian Creek.
The Royals (2-0) will play Ottawa Friday night. A win will put them in Saturday's championship game.
"She brings a lot of spunk to the team so coach has been telling us we need someone to pick up our team," Drozdowski said of Kellett who is at a soccer tournament. "I put in a lot of work in the off-season to work on my dribbling. A lot of practice."
Both teams struggled early, Rosary leading 5-3 after one quarter. Indian Creek (0-2) missed its first 12 shots from the field and had 13 turnovers in that stretch, yet Rosary led just 12-11 when Alexis VanWghe finally hit a 3-pointer with 5:24 left in the second quarter.
Rosary freshman Krystal Cortes sank three 3-pointers and scored 11 of her 13 points, and the Royals led 19-17 at halftime.
The pace picked up in the third quarter. After shooting 15 percent in the first half, Indian Creek improved to 50 percent and took its only lead of the game 27-26 on a backdoor cut from VanWghe.
Drozdowski quickly answered with a drive to put Rosary ahead 28-27, and Conlin followed with a steal and short pullup basket to extend the lead.
Rosary closed the quarter strong with a pair of Drozdowski 3s opening a 39-34 advantage.
Indian Creek never got closer than 4 points in the fourth. Rosary did miss five straight free throws but Indian Creek couldn't capitalize. Conlin, the third Royal in double figures with 11 points, sealed the win with 2 free throws with 10 seconds left.
"As the game went on we got ourselves under control and started playing our basketball," Rosary coach Jessie Terrell said. "I was really happy with the progression. We're not there yet but every single game we have to learn. Win or lose that game I thought it was a battle. From the time the ball tipped off till the end of the game I was happy with how much we learned."