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Drama they can handle

By Amelia Rayno, Star Tribune, 03/15/11, 8:15PM CDT

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DeLaSalle endured a season of injuries and health concerns for players and relatives of players

When DeLaSalle coach Faith Johnson Patterson thinks about the last three and a half months, she recalls the Islanders’ often-tumultuous season with both passion and relief.

Start with a team with three new players (sophomores Tyseanna Johnson and Allina Starr came from Minneapolis North, Mariah Adanene from Minneapolis Southwest), and you have an intense chemistry and role-finding project. Then, just as the team started to get steady on its feet in December, Patterson’s nephew and Johnson’s 14-year old-brother, Jarvis — who is close with the entire team — suffered a heart attack during his own basketball practice. The very next day, star player Mia Loyd  tore her ACL in a game, keeping her out for the remainder of the season.

“We had a lot of drama, and our team morale was definitely down,” Patterson said. “But I was once told, 'For every public success, there is a private struggle.’ So I was really encouraged. I just thought … something good has got to come out of this.”

Plenty has. The Islanders completed their playoff run Friday, sliding past Park Center 67-54 for the Section 3 title, and seem to be gaining steam as they head into Wednesday’s first-round matchup against Rogers in the Class 3A tournament. Johnson, after averaging 16.8 points in the regular season, has pumped in 78 in three playoff games, while Adanene and Starr helped her by averaging 15.7 and 12.3 per game, respectively.

The Islanders’ signature aggressiveness is still dominating games — the trio is apt at both pressuring opposing shooters and getting to the basket — but they also have multiple players capable of shooting from the outside. In Friday’s victory, four different players sank three-pointers, including three from Johnson.

“I just play,” said Johnson, when asked if she put things in a higher gear for the playoffs. “But I do feel like we’ve got to play every game as if it’s our last. So I give it my all, every game.”

That’s easier to do when it’s something you love, and for Johnson, that passion has only grown as she has watched those she loves around her have the game — at least temporarily — taken from them.

“I have to play for two people,” she said, referring to Loyd and her young brother, to whom she dedicated the section final. Her younger brother, in turn, cheered her on at that game. “I just started loving it more after that.”

The rest of the team, she said, echoes her sentiment.

“It means a lot of to us because we’ve been through so much this season,” she said. “Just getting here was a big step.”

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