Evans, Mundelein produce a winner against Grayslake North
A wounded basketball team turned to a player with wounded knees Tuesday night.
Actually, Brooke Evans might be in the best physical health of high school career, but the fact is that the Mundelein senior forward has had both of her knees surgically repaired in the last three years. One of those knees even developed a cyst recently.
With fellow four-year varsity starter Toni Knar out for the season with a hurt knee of her own - a torn ACL - Mundelein needs other players to pick up the scoring load. Evans responded against Grayslake North on second-day action of Mundelein's Lady Mustangs Turkey Shootout.
She scored 15 of her game-high 17 points in the game's first six minutes, as the Mustangs cruised to a 59-42 win to even their record at 1-1.
"One of her knees is bothering her again, but this is the first year she's been healthy, and then Toni goes down," Mundelein coach Brian Evans said of his daughter. "(Monday) night she came out and shot 7 or 8 times in the first quarter and I thought, 'Oh, now she realizes that she has to shoot.' And then the rest of the game I think she shot four times."
Brooke Evans took the same aggressive approach on offense against Grayslake North (1-1). She hit 6 of 8 shots, hitting one 3-pointer, as the Mustangs spurted to a 25-7 lead against a Knights team that was coming off a season-opening 50-49 win over Oswego East.
"I think we were so high from (Monday's game) that we weren't ready to play against a big, physical team today," Grayslake North coach Jim Sarver said. "I have to give Mundelein all the credit in the world. Boy, they came out and just made shots to start the game."
Brooke Evans had no idea that after one quarter she was on pace to score 60 points.
"Just playing the game," I guess," she said. "I feel like we all have to step up because Toni's not there. Everybody has to go out and look to score a lot more. We also got to make sure our defense is up, because that's kind of what we're known for."
Evans' shooting cooled off in the second quarter. Then with Mundelein up 37-17 at halftime, she rested most of the third quarter and all of the fourth.
She also had 7 rebounds and 3 assists on the night.
"This is about as well as I've felt the past four years," Evans acknowledged.
Three-year varsity veteran Olivia Dunigan added 14 points and 8 rebounds for Mundelein. In total, 12 Mustangs scored at least 1 point.
"All these people need to shoot the ball more," Brian Evans said. "Everybody's role changed this year because (J.J.) Sawchuk and (Kelsey) O'Connor graduated - and that was a lot of points and a lot of experience - and then Toni Knar goes down. We basically graduated and ACL'ed ourselves out of a lot of points."
"They're a very quality team," Sarver said. "They're going to get a lot of wins this year."
Kinsey Siler, who scored 24 points in the opener, led Grayslake North with 10 points. Lauren Erickson sank a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 9 points.