Lisle puts senior night to its advantage

The Lisle girls basketball team certainly had all the emotional advantages going into Monday's Interstate Eight Conference contest against Sandwich.

The Lions were playing at home, it was senior night and they were out to avenge a loss suffered earlier this season to a team that was only 5-20 for the year.

And then as soon as play started, the Lions grabbed all the physical advantages as well, as they jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the first quarter and went on to overpower Sandwich 54-27.

"It was important for us to win because it was senior night," said Jackie Todd, who led Lisle's balanced scoring with 13 and came up with 7 steals in the first half. "The last time we played them we were frantic and throwing the ball around. Tonight we tried to be calm with the ball."

"This is the first time we came close to playing an entire game," said Lisle coach Jeff Javior. "We didn't lose our composure. Our three senior starters have been through senior nights that weren't a lot of fun, so everyone was determined to make this a good night. They wanted to go out with a win."

Lisle's match-up zone defense repeatedly led to turnovers by Sandwich (5-21, 3-7) many caused by the free-lancing Todd, and the Lions (18-7, 9-1) held the visitors to single-digit scoring in every quarter.

"My job is to always be in the passing lanes," Todd said. "If I took chance, I always knew my teammates would be there to back me up."

"We're getting to where we should be at this time of the season," Javior said. "And we seem to be peaking at exactly the right time.

In addition to Todd, the other starting seniors made major contributions to the win.

Colleen Drennan scored 6 points, had 3 steals, a blocked shot and grabbed 7 boards, while Chelsea Peterson had 7 rebounds, 3 points and 3 steals.

Nicole Urban was the only other Lion in double figures with 11 points, while Darian Payne was strong off the bench with a team-high 13 boards and 8 points.

Lisle led 39-19 after three quarters, and just kept increasing the lead in the final period.

Sandwich center Emma Darby had an outstanding game, grabbing a game-high 20 rebounds. She also put in 12 points and added 5 steals and 2 blocks. Jordan Flowers chipped in 10 points.

"Lisle is a good ball club," said Sandwich coach Randy Malloy. "They're good fundamentally. They box out real well and they hold teams to one shot. They stopped us. They forced our mistakes and won the game."

Malloy said the first time his team played against the Sandwich girls did a good job of feeding the post or driving inside.

"For our part, we didn't have our attack mentality," Malloy said. "Tonight we stayed outside and dribbled from side-to-side. We're a team that has to constantly be moving it inside."