Zuri Ransom has had many stellar performances in her high school basketball career, but not even her own coach had witnessed anything similar to the takeover that the senior guard displayed on Saturday afternoon against Depaul College Prep.
After getting shut down in the first quarter by Depaul’s stingy defense, Ransom dominated the rest of the way. The Ball State commit finished the day with 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks, leading the Kits to a 51-37 win over the Rams.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Zuri play like that before,” said head coach Brittanny Johnson. “It was pretty promising for me. I’ve wanted her to own those types of moments more. I think the fact that she did it today shows a lot of growth in her game.”
The Kits (7-1) opened the game by missing their first six shots but managed to hold the Rams (7-2) to just an 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Despite having a slew of open looks at the rim, Evanston continued to struggle to finish easy opportunities in the paint early on.
But at the start of the second quarter, the Kits looked like a different team. Junior Jayla Warren backed down defenders and chipped in four quick points, and Ransom dropped six points on multiple fadeaway jumpers to provide a spark for the offense. The Kits led at the break, 22-18.
Evanston’s momentum and Ransom’s solid play carried over into the second half, but Depaul continued to go basket-for-basket with the Kits. Depaul’s London Walker-George, who finished the game with 14 points, was a force in the paint, finding easy looks throughout the quarter. The Rams trailed by as many as seven points in the third quarter, but two unanswered layups for the visitors and a missed three by Ransom at the buzzer trimmed Evanston’s lead down to one at the break, putting the Kits up 31-30 going into the fourth.
Johnson was frustrated by Evanston’s lack of finishing at the rim, which kept the Rams in the game.
“[Those misses] are a confidence thing. We need to get into a better rhythm,” said Johnson. We were taking shots and basically throwing it up at the rim and not seeing it through.”
After Depaul converted two buckets in the first 47 seconds of the fourth quarter to go up, 34-31, Evanston changed the course of the contest.
Ransom and the Kits put it all together, setting fire on offense and locking down on the defensive end. In the final seven minutes of the game, Ransom contributed ten points of her own and Evanston went on a dominant 20-3 run to seal the win over the Rams. Johnson was pleased that her team could close late in the game after letting Glenbrook North battle back in the fourth quarter on Thursday.
“[Closing] felt really good. I felt like fitness really became a factor in the [GBN] game,” Johnson said. “We work hard on our conditioning. So when [Depaul] got tired, I was really happy that we were able to sustain.”
Ransom reflected on the significance of the win over a top team.
“We definitely picked it up in the fourth quarter. It could have been a little cleaner, but we’re 7-1, so I can’t really complain about that,” Ransom said. “The fact that we beat this team by more than [Glenbrook North] proves that we can beat good teams. The way we close out is a big part of our downfall, because we’ll be up by a lot, but then we’ll unlock focus. So this was a really big win.”
The Kits will look to continue their six-game winning streak on the road against undefeated Maine South (10-0) on Friday, Dec. 15 at 7:00 p.m.
“We have to be way more disciplined and focus on not turning the ball over,” Johnson stated. “[Maine South] is a team that likes to play off of turnovers, but if we can limit that, we’ll have a really good chance to compete.”
