The energy was high in Beardsley Gymnasium as signs were held in support of seniors Zuri Ransom, Kailey Starks and Arianna Milam-Pryor.
“There was a lot of momentum [because of senior night], so every time we made a shot the gym was loud. It picked up our energy too which helped us,” Ransom said.
On Senior Night, the home crowd wasn’t enough of a boost to lift the Kits over Maine South, as Evanston fell to the Hawks, 64-55, despite a late run to come back after going down big in the second quarter.
“I wanted [the team] to play in front of a crowd that was substantial,” head coach Brittanny Johnson voiced. “They’ve earned that, [and] they deserve that. But I do think that early in the game, we allowed [the players] to take [their] focus off [the game]. I don’t think [we were] as focused as we needed to be to start the game.”
That lack of focus showed through in both turnovers as well as a lack of consistency on both ends of the floor.
“We just need to stop turning the ball over,” Johnson said. “We [were] dribbling too much and we never made [an] adjustment defensively so [the Hawks] were able to get easy looks. It’s tough because I feel like a lot of plays were just really lucky. The ball [kept] bouncing their way.”
Starks reflected similar sentiments.
“We had spurts of really good and then bad. As long as we pick up our consistency we will be much better going into future games,” she commented.
In that first quarter, Maine South (24-1, 9-0) fended off a high-energy Kits squad. Ransom and Milam-Pryor kicked off the scoring in the corner, but the Hawks stayed steady, staying with the Kits even as Ransom lept out to seven first-quarter points. By the end of the first, Evanston held a tight 11-9 lead.
With the second quarter underway, Starks opened it up with a driving two-point basket for the Kits. After that, the Hawks ran away with it; they would go on to score 20 points that quarter, with half of those points—including multiple threes—produced by Fahy. The Kits, on the other hand, were unable to consistently put the ball through the basket, only scoring six for the rest of the quarter.
The second half was a battle on both sides. The Hawks offense continued to string together baskets, but Evanston dominated. Evanston’s breathtaking senior duo Starks and Ransom combined for 22 points in the third quarter. But the team soon realized enough that it was nearly impossible to stop Fahy, as she added seven points in the third quarter to give her 19 points coming into the last quarter of play, with the Hawks leading, 49-41.
“It’s been rough. I think this is new territory for everyone; I’ve never lost 11 games in a row, [and] I don’t think any of our seniors have either. But I’m less concerned about the score, [and more so about] how we look. It was frustrating in the first half, because we didn’t have the effort we needed. But in the second half, we picked it up,” Johnson said. “We have to [give] more effort, and we have to be tougher.”
Although Evanston’s seniors combined for 53 out of the Kits’ 55 total points, the trio of Ransom, Milam-Pryor and Starks only shot 30 percent from three-point range. The Hawks ran away with the game late in the fourth quarter as the offense showed the arena what an efficient night looks like, shooting 44 percent from three and assisting them to a 64-55 victory against the Kits. On Friday night, Maine South (24-1,9-0 CSL) handed Evanston their 11th loss in a row.
“I really wish [that] the seniors had a better senior night,” Johnson said. “But it doesn’t change what they mean to me as players [and] as people. What I’m looking forward to is trying to make a run for them at the end of the season.”
Heading into the remainder of their season, Evanston hopes to break their misfortunate as they near the playoffs.
“Winning the rest of our games and making sure we communicate [is important] so we can make it far,” Starks said.
Evanston seeks to outshoot Warren Township in the non-conference matchup today at 2:30 p.m.
