Ryan Ostry
Bugle Reporter
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
On a night celebrating junior guard Jazz Evans eclipsing the 1,000 point mark in her basketball career, the Plainfield South Cougars spoiled the Joliet West celebration by defeating the Tigers 47-39.
Neither ball-club held a lead for more than two minutes in the first quarter of play, and the Tigers got off to the early lead going into the second quarter up 11-9, after getting to the free throw line four times.
Junior guard Jazz Evans brings the ball up the court for the Joliet West Tigers on a night where they celebrated Evans 1,000th career point. (Photo by Ryan Ostry)
Evans (11 points) led the way in the second quarter for the young Tiger squad who only feature three seniors, dropping eight points in the quarter, with two back-to-back 3-point shots at the 3 minute mark.
West went into the locker room at the half up 21-20, after a tenacious first half play.
South senior guard Shannon Smith (18 points) imposed her will on the young Tigers, scoring five quick points in a 9-2 Cougar early second half run.
“All of the credit goes to this team,” Smith said. “You can see it in every practice and every game, we always get one percent better and that really makes a large impact on what we do.”
The Cougars also went down in the record books, tying the record for most school wins in team history with 12.
“That was something I didn’t really want to mention because I didn’t want them to get nervous about it,” said South coach Lincoln DePaula. “The biggest thing is the progress that they have made, the other reason why I try not to make a big deal is because I believe their ceiling is higher than 12 wins.”
South turned up the energy even more on the defensive side of the ball in the third quarter, translating that into a 33-29 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
West regained the lead with 4:15 remaining in the ball game, after a 3-point field goal by sophomore guard Ashanti Brown.
Smith however, again imposed her will with an and-one layup and a fist pump with 3:25 left in the game.
Smith and the Cougars late game offense was just a little too much for the Tigers, with Smith putting the game out of reach with a steal at the 19 second mark in the game, giving the Cougars the victory on the Joliet West home floor.
“We just made some unforced turnovers and threw the ball to them where they created layups,” said West coach John Placher. “When we got close there at the end, we just have to make the play when we have the opportunity, some games we just don’t do that and this is the outcome.”