Evanston’s girls basketball program --- always successful in the past --- reached new heights once Brittanny Johnson took over as head coach 5 years ago.
The Wildkits challenged any and all comers, playing an elite schedule that included the program’s first trip to a national tournament down in New Orleans. And part of the growing pains for this year’s young squad included a Sunday trip to participate in the High School Jam shootout event at Morton College.
Matched up against elite Chicago Public School representative Kenwood Academy, the Wildkits hung tough for three quarters before bowing 56-38.
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The abbreviated playing calendar for teams in 2021 due to the pandemic limited Johnson’s scheduling choices in a rebuilding season. But the former college coach recognizes the benefits of having losses to CPS powers Simeon and Kenwood in a 12-4 season to date.
Beating up on teams by 30 points with running clocks aren’t the best way for a team or individuals to improve, and Johnson knows it.
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“We have a lot of players who are on the varsity for the first time, and the mistakes we made tonight were mostly mental,” Johnson said. “We need to get them all in bigger moments, that’s why we play games like this. We need to go up against teams that are at a high level, like Simeon and Kenwood.
“I don’t think the final score reflects our effort tonight. I’m totally pleased with the way we played. This will help set us up for next week (Central Suburban League South showdown with Maine South) and beyond that. I have to keep encouraging our girls. We’re a young team and we’re not there yet.
“I’m not worried about our scores this year, if we’re getting better and learning the lessons we need to learn. We had some big mistakes, missed layups and mixed box-outs, things like that, but that’s the difference between their experience and our inexperience.”
How talented are the Lady Broncos? 5-foot-10 junior Brianna McDaniel, regarded as one of the top 25 players in the entire country in the Class of 2022, suffered a knee injury in a scramble under the basket at the conclusion of the first quarter and didn’t return. But 8 other players scored for the winners, who were led by another junior, Whitney Dunn, with 12 points.
Lola Lesmond earned Player of the Game honors for Evanston with 13 points and 5 rebounds, and Rashele Olantunbosun totaled 14 points and 4 steals. Maggie Farragher, just off the injured list this week, contributed 8 rebounds.
Evanston’s lack of offensive firepower didn’t hurt for the first three periods, as ETHS trailed only 40-34. Lesmond and Olantunbosun combined for all of the Kit points in the third quarter as the losers outscored Kenwood 12-10.
But Evanston misfired on 7 straight field goal attempts to open the fourth quarter, and by the time senior Ryann Lucas scored on a drive at the 3:08 mark, Kenwood had stretched the lead to 50-34.
The Wildkits only shot 3-of-18 from the floor over the entire second half, underscoring what has been a season-long issue despite the lofty won-loss record. No third option on offense has developed yet in the short season.
“Our lack of another offensive threat really showed up in the big moments,” said Johnson. “In a game like this it was huge not having Zuri Ransom (freshman point guard, sidelined by a hand injury). Without her we have kids in different positions than they’re used to. It’s huge not having her.
“I didn’t think we’d have issues against Kenwood’s press, and we didn’t. But when they brought the ball inside against us in the second half, we couldn’t do anything with them. They have a rare mix of speed and size, and they’ll give any team trouble with their matchups.”
That’s a statement the ETHS coach hopes will apply to her team over the next few seasons, once they grow up.
