Girls Basketball: Lisle brings the Payne vs Collins

Updated: February 7, 2012 8:18PM

Lisle’s gym was a house of pain for the Collins girls basketball team Tuesday night.

Darian Payne made sure of that. Payne, a 5-10 senior center, scored a game-high 16 points, one shy of her career high, and added five rebounds and five steals to lead Lisle to a 56-11 victory in the Class 2A Lisle Regional quarterfinal.

“I just knew that if we lost this one it was the end of our season and none of us wants our season to be over so quick because we know we can be so good,” Payne said. “So I just went in as if it could be the last. I just left it all out on the court.”

Payne tallied 12 of her points in the first half, including eight during a first quarter in which the second-seeded Lions (19-9) jumped out to a 17-2 lead. Guards Skylar Tomko, Kelly Urban and Shelby Kretman all had assists in the early going as Payne sank her first four shots, all of which came underneath after crisp passes. Payne was the tallest player on the floor and seventh-seeded Collins, which had no player taller than 5-8, could not stop her.

“We made a concerted effort to get her the basketball,” Lisle coach Dan Murray said. “We thought we had an advantage inside and it is a matter of her teammates consistently looking for her and getting the ball inside to her. Her teammates did a great job of getting her the ball and she did a really good job, obviously, of finishing.”

Symone Hightower and Cierra Robinson made three-pointers to pull the Warriors (12-7) within 21-8 midway through the second quarter, but Lisle allowed only three points in the final 20 minutes, outscoring Collins 35-2 in that span.

Payne said the Lions knew nothing about Collins, so getting out to a big early lead was key.

“We play okay under pressure but if it was close the whole game it could have been hectic,” Payne said.

Urban had eight points and eight rebounds and Kretman chipped in seven points and four steals for Lisle, which forced 30 turnovers. Tomko added four points and four assists, while another guard, Kristina Fernette, added four points, four boards and three steals.

“The nice thing is obviously at playoff time you want to be playing with the right mentality, play every possession like it’s your last, and I thought the girls did a really good job,” Murray said. “I just thought the effort was extremely solid as it always is with the kids. Our attention to detail was good tonight from [everybody].”

Hightower, who had nine rebounds and five blocks, Robinson and Quatricia Hamilton led Collins with three points each.

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