With barely over two minutes left in the fourth quarter and her team clinging to a five-point lead, West Side junior Dana Evans kept repeating the same thing to every teammate she found.
“I was just telling everyone to calm down and to not panic,” she said. “And part of that was telling myself, too. We were winning.”
East Chicago threatened to take the lead from West Side several times in the second half, but the Cougars remained in the lead Saturday and pulled away late for an 84-73 victory in the Class 4A Lowell Sectional championship game.
One day after playing what Evans called “a bad game,” the 5-foot-7 guard was all smiles after winning the sectional championship — the second for West Side (19-4) in the last three seasons.
She finished with 43 points and made 13 of her 14 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to keep the Cougars in front of East Chicago (19-6).
She wasn’t the only West Side player with a big night, however, as the Cougars avenged a 68-59 regular-season loss.
Junior guard Brianna Joiner found plenty of open space with Evans frequently drawing double-teams from EC’s defense. Joiner had 12 points in the first half and finished with 15 — all from 3-point range
“I just told myself to catch and fire,” Joiner said. “I’m a shooter, so I kept looking for the open shots.”
Senior forward Jerrica Neal did most of her damage from the free-throw line, especially in the second half as she went 8-for-8. Neal closed with 17 points.
“They stepped up, that supporting cast,” West Side coach Rod Fisher. “Joiner in the first half was knocking down those threes. She was a completely different player (Saturday).”
“The last time we played against them, (Neal) was concussed and she had a great game We had a walk-through and I told her, ‘You’re going to have a good game. You’re going to have a great game.’ Everybody got into the game (Saturday).”
West Side took the lead early in the first quarter and never trailed again, although the Cardinals pulled within six points of the Cougars five different times in the second half.
At the end of the third quarter, a half-court heave from Zariah Frierson banked in, making it a 60-55 lead for West Side and sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Sophomore Jenasae Bishop led EC with 32 points. Freshman Tai-Yanna Jackson added a double-double with 20 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.
But one factor, according to EC coach Eric Kundich, kept the Cardinals from winning the game.
“One little thing that every coach, every team, talks about is free-throw shooting,” he said. “We shot only 11 free throws, and they shot 35. They got the job done. Evidently, we didn’t attack the basket enough or they were just smarter on defense and didn’t foul us.”
Dave Melton is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
