Catching up with Kaneland senior Kelly Evers

Kaneland senior Kelly Evers first started playing basketball in the fifth grade. “I was pretty awful,” recalled Evers, who has matured into a 6-foot center, a three-year varsity starter who looks to continue playing in college.

As a junior the lifelong Sugar Grove resident led the Knights with 10.4 points and 6.7 rebounds while earning Daily Herald All-Area and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class 3A All-State special mention honors. Last summer she played with the Bulls Elite team in Lisle on the AAU circuit.

This season an ankle injury and consistent double- and triple-teams have limited her output to about 6 points and 5 rebounds a game, but that has allowed her teammates more scoring opportunities, said Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe. A member of the National Honor Society with a 3.7 grade-point average, Evers also is a distance runner on the Knights' track team. She started running track in seventh grade, and two years later ran on the Knights' 2009 all-state 3,200-meter relay team.

The fun and funny Evers seems alternately whimsical and serious, speaking about dressing her pet sheltie in a Santa costume one moment, and her aspiration to be a businesswoman or pharmacist the next.

Q: What's your favorite class at school, Kelly?

A: Probably lunch. No, I'm kidding. I like science a lot, whether it's chemistry or earth science or anything. I really like science a lot.

Q: Ever dissect a frog?

A: Yes, I did, in eighth-grade. We had to dissect a frog and our teacher wasn't as strict on how we had to do it and we were running out of time, so some people cut it perfectly and mine was like I gutted it. And don't even ask about the smell. It was disgusting.

Q: Do you have any hobbies?

A: I do, sort of. I have a dream book. Every morning I write down a dream that I had before, then I look it up online and find out what it means. It's interesting, actually, because on the day of a big game it'll be like, oh, you're feeling nervous. It just knows. And lately my hobby has been applying to colleges. I think I've applied to 13 now, way too many.

Q: In college and even against some high school opponents it's hard to get away with being a 6-foot post player. Do you have any secrets playing inside?

A: I guess I've just got to have heart and maybe try to outsmart them. Freshman year I was pretty much just skin and bones, but I think I'm maybe like a chicken now. Usually in games if somebody gives me a little nudge I can go flying and it looks like a foul, so that comes in handy as well.

Q: What's your favorite shot?

A: Definitely the hook shot — that's 100 percent my favorite shot. I love hook shots.

Q: How did you develop that?

A: I just started doing post moves my freshman year. When I was younger I didn't have much need to post up as much, but once I got to the varsity level it became necessary, and most people have a go-to thing that they do, like an up-and-under or a drive, whatever they need to do. I did that (hook shot), I think, in a summer league game, and I did that a couple times and I was on fire, and I haven't stopped since. It's my comfort move, but it's not my only move.

Q: Do you like playing defense?

A: Yes, I love it. Even if my team just gets like a tip it's a little thrill booster. Steals, tips, anything. Oh, and especially stuffing people. That makes my night.

Q: What's the toughest conditioning drill for you?

A: Defensive slides. I can't stand them, anything like that. I'm a pretty tall person (and) our coach always tells us to stay low, you've got to stay low in games or people will drive by you. And I'm tall, so I'm pretty noticeable if I'm not sliding or I'm standing up.

Q: How did you get started running track?

A: I had to do the mile in second grade, and that was my favorite part of gym class, when we had to run the mile. Everyone was like, ugh, and I was like, Yes! I've always liked running. My mom (Tara) said my older brother and sister (Brian and Traci; Danny is a Kaneland sophomore), when we were in a stroller I'd run to the end of the block and back because I couldn't wait.

Q: What do you like about track and field?

A: Just the competition. I love competing and that's my favorite part, especially because it can come down to a full-on sprint at the end of a race, which at the time is pretty exhausting, but it's fun.

Q: What do you do for fun in Sugar Grove?

A: There's this game that I play with my friends, we call it the Target Game. We go to Target with like five other people — this is the most exciting thing I can think of — and each person tells the other what to get. One of my friends is pretty small, so I asked her to get the biggest bag of dog food she could find. Everybody looks at you like you're crazy because you're running around the store looking for these items. It can get pretty intense.

Q: If you were queen, what would you change?

A: I want to say world peace, but I'd probably go with obesity. If there were some kind of McDonald's fries that were healthy but still tasted the same, I'd definitely go for that. But maybe global warming or world peace.

Q: Where do you keep your all-state medal from the 2009 track championships?

A: On a wall in my room. I have like a little shrine for basketball and a little shrine for track.

Q: Is there anything you wish you could do on the basketball court, but haven't?

A: Point guard. I've always wanted to try that out, but I've trained to do pretty much everything opposite of them. My coaches have told me to think like a point guard, ball-handle like a point guard, but I'm not going to get a chance to be a point guard. That'd be pretty cool on my senior night.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Mascot vs. Mascot

St. Charles East's

King Charles the Great

Descendant of King Charlemagne (742-814), Frankish king also known as Charles the Great

Was bequeathed small inheritance, mainly textiles and livestock liberated during the Carolingian campaigns

Commands armies of brave male and female warriors

Smiling countenance belies serious skills with fleur-de-lis-topped scepter

vs.

St. Charles North's

Polaris the Polar Bear

Named for the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Major; also known as the North Star

Long, sharp teeth shear off large chunks of meat

Can reportedly charge at speeds up to 25 mph

More willing than other bears to consider humans as prey

Adult males normally weigh up to 1,200 pounds

Outcome: Were Polaris the actual, timeless North Star and not a threatened marine mammal, this confrontation might end differently. Individual bouts against King Charles' warriors favor Polaris, but in the end massive energy consumption and resulting greenhouse gas emissions throughout King Charles' Holy Roman Empire and continued colonization results in diminished sea ice, thus habitat loss, in Polaris' Arctic climes.

Winner: King Charles the Great