Providence’s Landrie and Layken Callahan reacted differently when they started out in sports.
They come from a family of basketball players. When their father, Brennan, was the boys coach at Sandwich, he had them playing in a league in Newark. They weren’t even in kindergarten yet.
“I was always in the gym,” Landrie said. “Basketball was always in my face and it was something that I loved to do. When we got pulled up to play with older kids, it was the most amazing thing.”
Not so with Layken, who’s a year younger.
“I used to cry all the time because I wanted to be a cheerleader,” she said. “I would hide underneath chairs and they would have to pull me out from underneath.”
For the Celtics, it’s like pulling a rabbit out of a hat with the addition of Landrie, a 6-foot-2 senior forward and Pepperdine recruit, and her sister Layken, an aggressive junior guard.
Providence coach Eileen Copenhaver said she was relaxing on a pontoon boat in Hudson Lake in late July when she got the surprise call that the Callahan sisters wanted to visit Providence.
Call it Christmas in July for the Celtics.
“I’ll take an early Christmas present,” Copenhaver said.
The two were mainstays at Morris, where Landrie broke the program scoring record in just three years. They decided transfer in July to Providence. A month later, Landrie picked Pepperdine.
“As a family, we felt this was the best decision,” she said of the transfer.
Landrie averaged 20.5 points and 12 rebounds last season in being named Illinois Basketball Coaches Association second team all-state. She scored 1,558 points at Morris, eclipsing the mark previously held by Mya Shannon.
Layken, who dropped softball after her freshman year to concentrate on basketball after seeing the college attention that Landrie was getting in the sport, can score and rebound. She’s being recruited by Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Roosevelt.
Copenhaver is happy to have both sisters joining Providence’s program.
“You have a D-I player who is tall and can play one through five,” Copenhaver said of Landrie. “She sees the floor. She can pass the ball. She can shoot the ball and do a lot of things and doesn’t always have to have the ball to be effective. She has a feel for the game.
“Layken is the bull in the China shop. She’s going to be physical. When you have that mentality, you have to learn how to use it. She’s come a long way in just a few weeks. She’s doing things that come naturally. You don’t have to plow your way through.”
Last season, Providence finished 23-12. The new-look Celtics, who open the season with a 6 p.m. game on Nov. 17 in the WJOL Invitational, also return standouts in Eilish Raines and Taylor Healy.
Bringing the Callahans into the fold should provide a boost.
Their father, Brennan, prepped at Seneca and played in college at Lewis. Their mother, Laney, nee Pellegrini, prepped at Morris and played in college at Joliet St. Francis, making the school’s Hall of Fame in 2010.
A host of their uncles were stars at Seneca, and over the years, the family has expanded with players all over Illinois and South Dakota. Holidays at their grandparents’ house meant more than 25 former or current basketball players competing against each other on a gravel driveway.
The sisters grew up playing in those games — even in the snow.
“It’s a little bit crazy,” Layken said. “When we were little, there were times we wore Jordan mittens when we played.”
“It’s rough,” Landrie said. “My uncles try to beat us, and some of them are still pretty good players. They are so funny.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.