Evanston led by as many as 16 midway through the second quarter, but let Rock Springs pulled within six early in the fourth quarter before the Lady Red Devils could pull away for a 53-42 4A West Conference victory on Friday night.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account and connect your subscription to it by clicking here.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
EVANSTON – The Evanston High School girls’ basketball team knows how to win ball games.
The Lady Red Devils’ record and No. 3 state ranking proves that. But they are still looking to put teams away early after establishing a comfortable lead.
Evanston led by as many as 16 midway through the second quarter, but let Rock Springs pulled within six early in the fourth quarter before the Lady Red Devils could pull away for a 53-42 4A West Conference victory on Friday night.
“We talked about it during halftime,” said Evanston senior Emmery Wagstaff, who scored 25 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. “When we have the lead, that’s when we have to bury teams.”
Rock Springs trailed 48-42 with 1:21 left to play, but Wagstaff finished the game with five points and Natalie Robbins added a bucket as Evanston improved to 10-3 on the year and 2-0 in conference play.
“We all worked together and played more as a team tonight,” Wagstaff said. “It was an all-around good game.”
Evanston had a 12-7 lead early in the second quarter before going on a 14-3 run to make it a 26-10 ballgame with 4:49 to play in the first half.
The Lady Tigers finished the period on a 10-2 run to make it a 28-20 game going into the break.
“The problem we have is we’re committing too many silly fouls early in the game, so we have three starters on the bench in the second quarter and they’ve got to be on the floor,” Evanston coach Jeremy Fessler said. “We got a little hectic late in the second quarter.”
Evanston maintained at least a seven-point lead in the third, before entering the final period with a 42-33 lead.
Rock Springs pulled within six with 5:29 to play, but that is as close as the Lady Tigers would get.
“In the second half, I thought we did a nice job of beating their press and pulling (the ball) out and setting up the offense,” Fessler said. “That was the issue in the second quarter, we got hectic, let them get some easy shots and let them get a little run on us. I thought we did a better job in the second half.”
Hailey Barker scored 11 points had secured nine rebounds for the Lady Red Devils, who host Natrona on Friday.
“We kind of had a letdown,” Barker said. “We know we had to come together as a team. We just need to come out, keep playing, and show teams what we can do. It’s always great to beat Rock Springs, especially at home.”
