NEVER SATISFIED
MOUNT CARMEL — There couldn’t have been much that Danni Rae Renno felt the need to improve on over the offseason, right?
One would think.
She can clearly score, having already notched her 1,000th career point during her junior year. She can obviously disrupt oppositions by coming down with rebounds.
She wasn’t content, working on refining her game.
It worked.
For her efforts, she earned her third consecutive Press Enterprise girls basketball MVP honor.
Renno upped her points per game from 17 her junior year to 20.6 this season. She did that while keeping pace with 10 rebounds a game to average a double-double.
She was one of three players — Berwick’s Katie Starr and Bloomsburg’s Madeline Evans being the others — to accomplish that stat line in the area.
She takes pride in knowing the adjustments she made helped the team capture the Class 2A state title.
“I really wanted to work on my defense [over the offseason], just improving our man defense,” Renno said. “We knew we couldn’t make it far in states if we didn’t improve our man defense. We already played great zone defense.”
It also took a one-point victory over Bloomsburg to give her the confidence to know that everything was working and the Red Tornadoes have a chance of being one of the best in the state.
“When we first played Bloomsburg and won [54-53], I looked at Lauren Ayres and said, ‘We did it. We beat one of the best teams in the area,’” Renno said. “It was then that I realized this team had the potential to win it all.”
Red Tornadoes’ coach Lisa Varano says Renno’s leadership and impact will last well after Renno graduates.
“I think she’s a quiet leader. She’s not always vocal, but her actions speak louder than words,” Varano said. “Her work ethic speaks for itself. She worked her tail off every day. I think that’s going to help some of the younger kids moving forward.
“... There are some big shoes to fill for sure. We’ve been very blessed to have her for the last four years, and we’ll miss her.”
Her season began with sadness, left wondering if her senior season would even get played during a pandemic. It finished with happiness as she won a state title in front of her friends and family.
Link to story: https://www.pressenterpriseonl...
