Intimidated? Abby Drendel knows ‘it’s not going to help.’ Instead, the Naperville North senior refuses to back down.

Naperville North senior guard Abby Drendel wasn’t going to give in.

The McKendree recruit wrested the ball away from Nazareth’s Olivia Austin, drove nearly the length of the court, was fouled and sank two free throws.

It didn’t matter that the Huskies were trailing by 30 points and there was a running clock when Drendel made the play midway through the fourth quarter of the nonconference game in La Grange Park on Tuesday.

“I was a little mad,” she said. “I’d say part of it is I’ve learned through my years on varsity you can’t come out playing intimidated because it’s not going to help you at all.”

Drendel wasn’t intimidated Tuesday. She scored all of her team-high 11 points in the second half and also led the Huskies with six steals and four rebounds.

But it was a different story for her teammates, who struggled mightily in a 49-30 loss that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.

Nazareth (18-1), which is unbeaten against in-state opponents and is ranked No. 1 in the Class 3A poll by The Associated Press, scored the game’s first 17 points and led 34-6 in the third quarter before Drendel sank a 3-pointer.

“They are 100% a great team,” Drendel said. “You cannot say they aren’t. They all play together. We constantly see them working as a team.”

The same couldn’t be said for the Huskies (14-7), whose four-game winning streak was snapped in emphatic fashion.

“We did not come out and play as a team,” Drendel said. “We didn’t show our full effort. Effort is all you can bring out there, and we just didn’t. We just didn’t play like ourselves.”

Indeed, the Huskies were surprisingly meek in the face of Nazareth’s pressure defense, which forced seven turnovers in the first quarter and 20 overall, and were lethargic on defense. It was a surprising showing for a team that beat three higher-seeded teams — Mother McAuley, Hersey and Benet — at the Morton College Christmas Tournament.

“We were throwing pity parties for ourselves quite a bit out on the floor,” Naperville North coach Erin Colletti said. “We weren’t recovering from mistakes we were making and let one mistake lead to another and a third.

“The defensive energy that you bring creates your offensive opportunities. But then on the opposite side, our team has shown that sometimes when we don’t hit shots early, then it starts to negatively impact our defense because we’re playing scared or lack confidence.”

That wasn’t the case with Drendel, whose intensity never wavered. She tallied the final six points of the game, coming up with two steals, a 3-pointer and a 3-point play.

“It’s almost disrespectful not to give (the opponent) my all, you know what I mean?” Drendel said. “They deserve to play our best, and we didn’t show them that.

“Even (assistant coach Molly) Murray was like, ‘Do you really want to go back in?’ I was like, ‘Put me back in the game. I want to play.’”

Colletti expects such effort from Drendel, but the fourth-year starter had little help against Nazareth. Layla Henderson and Abby Homan, who each scored six points, were the only other players with more than one basket.

“I rely on Abby (Drendel) a lot, not only physically with what she does, which is contagious, but her vocal leadership has come so far in her four years with us,” Colletti said. “She’s a Huskie. She’s relentless. She gets after it.

“She represented what was on our chest today, but I can’t say that for many more. There were spurts of energy from some of our players, but you’re not going to beat a team individually if some are trying their best and some aren’t.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.