Kit Girls Look To Future After Season-Ending Loss

Like many girls high school basketball teams in the state of Illinois, Evanston saw the season end with a defeat in the regional championship game Friday night.

But the Wildkits’ 60-26 slaughter rule loss to defending Class 4A state champion Loyola Academy at Beardsley Gym wasn’t seen as the end of anything by ETHS head coach Brittanny Johnson.

Indeed, everyone in the program considers the 2024-25 season more like a new beginning on the path back to postseason success again.

Johnson believes her squad – which graduates just one senior starter, Jayla Warren --- can build on a 20-loss season that had a rough ending against the Ramblers. Evanston endured a scoring drought of 11 and a half minutes without a field goal stretching between the second and third quarters and only shot 23 percent (9-of-40) from the floor in their friendly confines.

“Our offense has been the problem all year,” Johnson admitted after Charity Bryant, Brielle Rosemond and Payton King tied for team honors Friday with eight points apiece. “We had two quarters tonight where everything we shot didn’t go in. I was proud of our defensive effort, especially in the first half, but we have to find more ways to score the basketball.

“I thought the game tonight was a tale of two halves. If you showed up and watched just the first half, you’d leave thinking wow, Evanston competed well with Loyola. But if you showed up and just watched the second half, you’d think it was just a blowout.

“Loyola is a very, very tough team to beat. In high school girls basketball when you’re disciplined, selfless and have good ballhandlers like they do, that’s how you put together undefeated seasons or two-loss seasons like they have. I think they’ll probably win the state championship again.”

Loyola (31-2) spotted the hosts a 7-2 lead, then yielded only six points the rest of the half and built a 24-13 halftime advantage behind All-State guard candidate Aubrey Galvan. Galvan finished with a game-high 19 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor and didn’t play in the fourth quarter.

When Bryant finally scored on a bank shot with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left in the third quarter, Loyola had stretched the lead to 37-15. Things only got worse for the losers after that.

“This is such a young team and I thought we just gave up in the second half,” Johnson admitted after her team finished 12-20 on the year. “No question, this is the hardest season I’ve had at Evanston in nine years as head coach. It’s frustrating because we’re trying to rebuild (after being adversely affected by the COVID-19 situation) and trying to get our culture back to where it was, and we played the hardest schedule in the sectional this year.

“But these girls came back every day after the most running clock losses we’ve ever had and were eager to learn and put another foot forward. I think that speaks volumes about them. It was hard for them, and hard for me, but we pushed through it. They learned how to handle adversity.”

King, who started on the varsity as a freshman, missed a chance to develop her game further when she was sidelined by two separate concussions suffered in games this season. The 5-foot-10 sophomore had shown signs in November and December of progressing into a “go-to” scorer that the team desperately needed, but couldn’t find a way to score when she spent most of her time watching from the sidelines.

“I think if Payton had been able to play the whole season she would have had that role,” said Johnson. “We couldn’t find a way to make up for what we were missing when she was out. I thought she was going to be THAT player for us.”

A half dozen different freshmen saw action in various varsity games this year, with point guard Ella Martin and Bryant earning starting roles. Bryant was the only Wildkit to earn all-Central Suburban League South division recognition and Martin asserted herself as a team leader by the second half of the campaign.

Here’s how Johnson listed her personal takeaways from the season that ended Friday.

“No. 1, I found a point guard in Ella (Martin),” she said. “I love her leadership and having someone to count on to run the offense like that. Tonight she managed the game very well against one of the best defenders (Galvan) in the state of Illinois. I don’t think she had a turnover up against her tonight and she dictated the pace for us.

“No. 2, I really think Charity will become of one the better players ever to play here and now we just have to help her develop as coaches. The moment might have been a little too big for her tonight, but I can’t fault her as a freshman for that.

“And No. 3, I love our sophomore class (King and Rosemond, who also missed time with a concussion). I would have loved for them to be able to play more.”

In one year, Johnson and the rest of the ETHS coaching staff managed to grow the program that only had a total of 24 players suit up on all levels last year. This season they started with 51 and finished with 47 hopefuls, definitely a step in the right direction.

“I really like the young kids we have coming up in the feeder program --- the fourth, fifth and sixth graders --- and I’m excited because of the tireless work of the feeder coaches and everyone in Evanston basketball after COVID. I’m really excited to see that hard work come to fruition in the next couple of years.

“We had the goal to make the regional finals this year, and we did that, but this is NOT the expectation I have for this program. I’m very excited about the future.”