I would strongly suggest she not mind at all being dropped off around 8am, not 9 am. She'll have plenty to do and you just might make your flight . There are so many unknown variables with traffic between LAX and SNA, unless you are a major league thrill seeker, you will not have a fun time trying to catch that flight if you leave at 9am. Far better to be bored in the gate at SNA than sat in a fender-bender on the 405 at 11:29am.