New Zone Defense Sparks Kit Girls In League Opener

Maybe by the time there’s a scheduled rematch in girls basketball between Evanston and Glenbrook South --- January 5th in Glenview --- the Titans will have figured out a way to attack the new-look zone defense employed by the Wildkits this year.

Or maybe not.

An amoeba-like defense --- one that seemed to change shape with every pass ---- bewildered and befuddled the visitors, allowing Evanston to open the Central Suburban League South division season on a winning note as the Kits crushed GBS by a 60-39 margin at Beardsley Gymnasium.

Kailey Starks scored 19 points, snatched 7 rebounds and added 5 steals while Zuri Ransom collected 16 points and 5 steals for the winners. But the cat --- or make that Kit --- is out of the bag now after ETHS head coach Brittanny Johnson talked in the preseason about mixing up Evanston’s defensive schemes this year.

Evanston traditionally has relied on man-to-man defense since long before Johnson took over the program. That’s all changed this year for a variety of reasons.

Tuesday, the Kits forced 17 turnovers and limited South to 32 percent field goal shooting while improving to 3-1 on the season by resorting to what Johnson described as a “hybrid” 2-3 zone.

Every defensive look the Kits tried resulted in confusion, and often chaos, for the losers.

“If the older kids (ex-players) came back to see us play, they’d be shocked,” Johnson said. “But last year we played a lot of zone because we had so many injuries. And just because it’s a 2-3, that doesn’t mean we have to stand back on defense and just be reactionary. We can still jump the passing lanes and use our athleticism, like we did tonight.

“GBS missed some shots early on and after that, I think they were confused. They threw a lot of passes out of bounds. It’s a hybrid defense where we’re using many different concepts and zones, all in one. But most of the zones we play still are based on man-to-man principles.

“We only have 8 or 9 players available every day and we need ways to be able to rest kids. We can’t expect them to pressure man-to-man for four quarters every game. We just want to be unpredictable.”

Johnson began the experiment in the summer while the three returning seniors --- Ransom, Starks and Arianna Milam-Pryor --- were just starting to get used to playing with three new freshmen on the roster.

She said the buy-in from the senior trio, combined with the physical length of rookies Payton King and Jayla McClure-Calvin, has made the transition smoother than expected.

“When we play a 1-3-1, we have our two best defenders with Zuri on top and Kailey on the bottom, and they really communicate well,” Johnson said. “I really trust our seniors will get it done for us. We’ve given them a lot of freedom to make reads and trust each other. They really understand what we’re trying to do, and the freshmen have such great length so that really plays to our advantage.”

Glenbrook South, which defeated Evanston twice last season, scored 6 points at the free throw line to help the Titans earn a 14-14 tie at the first quarter break. But the hosts outscored them 22-4 in the second period to break the contest wide open.

Three-point baskets by Sandra Delaney and Ransom were part of an 11-0 surge that began midway through the second quarter and the Titans never knew what hit them. GBS turned the ball over 5 times in the period and never did find any openings in the ETHS defense.

Junior point guard Gina Davorija paced South (2-3 overall) with 12 points but only shot 4-of-12 from the field.

Evanston’s girls resume action Friday at Deerfield. The Wildkits will play a girls-boys doubleheader that night beginning with the girls contest at 5:30 p.m.