Experience Counts For Trevs In 49-41 Rivalry Win

A combined total of 54 turnovers is just what you might expect from two girls basketball teams desperately seeking a point guard to provide some leadership.

Neither New Trier nor Evanston has found a solution yet at that key position. The Trevians used their overall experience to pull away in the fourth quarter for a 49-41 triumph in the rivalry matchup at Beardsley Gymnasium Friday night.

The host Wildkits went scoreless for the first four and a half minutes of the final period and that gave New Trier just enough breathing room to improve to 2-2 in Central Suburban League South division play, and just 4-7 overall. Evanston, which had three freshmen on the floor for most of that decisive period, slipped to 3-6 on the season and 2-2 in league play.

Evanston head coach Brittanny Johnson is convinced that she has two potential varsity point guards in the freshman class in Ella Martin and Kanijah Chatman Dennison. Dennison moved up to the varsity for her debut Friday and will stick there for at least the next week when the Kits travel to the Libertyville Winter Classic tournament.

But if they’re the future, the turnovers are still going to add up in the present.

And further exacerbating the problem was an injury to the current primary playmaker, sophomore Payton King, who was injured in the first quarter (possible concussion) and never got back in the game.

Growing pains are just part of the process according to the veteran head coach, who was an All-State point guard herself during her playing career at Fenwick.

“Losing Payton very, very early really hurt because then we had to put people in positions they just aren’t used to playing. Give New Trier credit for recognizing that,” Johnson said.

“We just turned the ball over too much (28 times). We missed some tough shots, we rushed some shots, and at one point in the fourth quarter we had three freshmen on the court. We’re just so young and that’s a tough situation to handle.

“Evanston-New Trier is always a tough game and we’re so young that we don’t understand that yet. It will always be a gritty, physical game and New Trier handled that better than we did.”

King inherited most of the ballhandling duties for the current squad, the only backcourt performer close to being ready for prime time. “But I really think of Payton as more of a combo guard, and I don’t want her at point guard because that’s not her natural position,” Johnson explained.

“I have a lot of confidence in Ella (Martin) and I still believe she’s our point guard of the future. She and Kanijah have the ability to play well together --- I thought Kanijah gave us a lot of good minutes tonight --- and it’s on me to help them get better. They ask me the same questions that (former ETHS star guard and standard setter Kayla Henning) Kayla asked when she was here. And don’t forget that Kayla struggled when she was a freshman and sophomore, too.

“We had too many times tonight where we tried to force the ball inside, or to run something when it really wasn’t there. I think the (rivalry) moment got a little too big for them. I think we’re even with New Trier (as a team), but their experience paid off tonight.”

The Trevians, who now lead the all-time series with 65 wins to 44 for Evanston, took a 37-36 lead in the final minute of the third quarter when junior Avery Schecter banked in a 3-point shot.

The fourth quarter was a quarter to forget for the hosts. They missed their first four field goal attempts and turned the ball over five times --- even though New Trier called off its fullcourt press --- and the Trevs built a 43-36 advantage with 3:40 left on the clock.

Once they hung onto the ball long enough for freshman forward Charity Bryant to get untracked, the Wildkits at least put up a fight down the stretch. Bryant (17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) muscled in five straight points to narrow the gap to 43-41 and the Kits had a chance to tie when the freshman missed a shot and Brielle Rosemond chased down the rebound.

Rosemond, however, was whistled for traveling and the Trevians countered with a 3-point shot from the top of the key by Victoria Wainscott with 99 seconds left in the game and Evanston never scored again.

Anna Rivera led New Trier with 10 points, Emerson Buck added 9, and Schecter, Wainscott and Dami Balogun each contributed 8.

Rosemond backed up Bryant’s game-high effort with 7 points and 9 rebounds.

Evanston is back in action Saturday at the Libertyville tournament for a 12:30 p.m. matchup against Rockford Guilford in the round-robin affair.