Frosh Nets First Double-Double In Wildkit Romp

After enduring several slaughter rule losses last season, all that Evanston girls basketball coach Brittanny Johnson wanted for Christmas this year was a team that’s more competitive.

She’s got that.

And she also has a couple of 6-foot-1 players with potential who are too big to stuff a stocking.

Sophomore Charity Bryant poured in 25 points and freshman Simone Hewitt scored her first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Wildkits overpowered Maine East 65-25 Saturday at Beardsley Gymnasium.

Now 6-4 on the season, Evanston will spend the Christmas break relishing a well-earned rest --- no holiday tournament this year --- while visions of Bryant and Hewitt teaming up on the court together over the next two and a half seasons dance in Johnson’s head.

Just don’t refer to them as “bigs”, because that underrates the athleticism that both players bring every night.

“I actually think that Charity will be a guard in college,” Johnson said. “And Simone can handle the ball, too. They’re both hybrid players who can play inside or outside. We’ll have a lot of options when other teams try to match up against us in the future. They’re going to be a matchup issue because they’re such good athletes.

“Our top nine players are doing a really good job this season. We’re 6-4 but we could just as easily be 8-2. Last year at Christmas we were on a roller coaster ride, and we were headed down at this point. Now everyone has a really good mindset and we’re in a good place.”

Hewitt is in a place she didn’t expect to be in. She’s blossomed after being promoted from the junior varsity squad and netted a career-high 17 points against a Maine East team that didn’t have a single player over 5-foot-9.

Hewitt certainly recognizes an opportunity when she sees one. After she started at goalkeeper for the Jahbat girls soccer team that won the Under-19 national championship this past summer, she followed through on a girlfriend’s suggestion to try out for the school’s famed YAMO musical sketch comedy production. She was one of only two freshmen at ETHS who made the cut and performed onstage back in October.

And don’t be surprised if she’s the starting goalie for the Kit varsity soccer squad this spring.

The lanky freshman has only played competitive basketball for two seasons after moving to Evanston from Mount Prospect as a fifth grader. But short of bodies --- especially rebounders --- at the varsity level, Johnson decided to bring her up to the varsity full-time just a couple of weeks into the season.

It might turn out to be the coach’s best move of the season.

“She’s played soccer her whole life and we just hoped we’d get her to fall in love with basketball, too,” Johnson kidded. “At the start of the year I thought having her on the JV level would be better for her development. But she forced my hand and I gave her the opportunity because (lack of) rebounding was an issue for us.

“Simone has the mindset to be really good. I love the fact that I’m getting the chance to teach basketball to her. She has such a great spirit and she might be the most coachable player I’ve had in my time here at Evanston. She has that cat-quickness to get rebounds --- that probably comes from being a goalie --- and she protects the basket well.

“I’m excited to see what it can look like while we keep pouring information into her.”

“I’ve learned so much here the past two months,” Hewitt said. “I told myself just to listen to the coaches, trust them and execute whatever they say the plan is.

“On the third day of tryouts Coach Johnson told me she didn’t think I was ready for the varsity yet, so I wasn’t expecting this. I’ve played soccer since I was 3 years old and I think I’m pretty good, because I’ve always played up (in older age groups than her actual age).

“Playing varsity as a freshman means there’s a lot on you. My first varsity game, I was terrified. And (unlike in junior high) you have to practice every day. You have to be there on time and you have to be ready, and you have to be accountable. I’m learning how to juggle all that right now.

“On the court, the hardest part is knowing where to be --- and when. You have to have good court awareness. I also found out you can’t stand in the paint for three seconds.”

Bryant and Hewitt thrived in up-tempo situations in the rout of Maine East Saturday, on three occasions feeding each other for fast-break layups as ETHS broke out to leads of 19-6, 37-13 and 58-19 on their way to a running clock win of their own.

Bryant, who just missed a double-double of her own with 9 rebounds, also contributed 3 steals while connecting on 11-of-22 field goal attempts, including a couple of 3-point buckets. She stashed in 11 of those points in the first period.

Havana Van Wyk added 8 points for the winners, who also experimented with using the two “bigs” in a rare 1-3-1 zone defense employed by Evanston in the second half,

The zone alignment placed Hewitt on top, to harass the Demons’ point guard, with Bryant positioned in the middle.

“I’m really not much of a zone coach, but it’s something we thought we’d try,” Johnson said. “I admire those old school coaches like John Thompson (Georgetown University) who used it back in the day. We can put an athlete out on top like Simone and let them be disruptive, and we do have some pretty good length (physically) with the two of them, Havana and Payton King.”