THE SKINNY
It was senior night in Waukegan’s Dog Pound gym, but it wasn’t a memorable night for the home team. Evanston (17-8 overall, 7-2 Central Suburban League South Division) closed in on a 20-win season with a dominating defensive performance. Waukegan is now 5-15 and 3-6.
THE TURNING POINT
It came early. In the first quarter, Waukegan shot 1-for-6 from the field, committed seven turnovers and fell behind 16-4. It was 26-15 at the half and after the Bulldogs got within 28-21, the Wildkits scored the next eight points to end the competitive phase of the game.
THE STAR
Elijah Henry, a 6-5 junior forward, thrilled the crowd with four fourth-quarter dunks en route to a team-high 12-point night.
BY THE NUMBERS
For Waukegan, Catoni Collins had 10 of his team’s 15 first-half points and finished with 14. Jacqui Taylor added 10. Evanston got 10 points from Nivra White. The Wildkits’ pressure defense forced 17 turnovers, and the biggest lead was the 29 points at the end.
QUOTABLE
“It’s good to get back to winning as a team. After losing two in a row, we played to our strength tonight. That means in terms of being unselfish, sharing the basketball, helping each other out on defense, I think that’s why we were solid tonight.” — Evanston coach Mike Ellis
