Area Sports Roundup | Kaylen Evans’ jersey is headed to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame

By Jeff Vorva
Staff Writer

Kaylen Evans is not in any halls of fame, but her jersey will be.

Evans, a Nazareth graduate who attended Loyola Chicago before transferring to Morton College, will have her Panthers jersey displayed in the Ring of Honor at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee, in recognition of her outstanding play during the 2022-2023 season.

Evans was a NJCAA Division II Second Team All-American. The sophomore guard averaged 18.3 points per game and was third in the nation with 114 three-pointers made while helping the Panthers to a program-best 34-1 campaign. Morton finished ranked No. 1 in the final NJCAA regular-season poll and placed fifth at the national tournament.

Evans is heading to Lindenwood University, but the No. 21 jersey she wore at Morton will reside in Tennessee.

Panthers teammate Claire Hyde, a Wheaton North graduate, will also have her jersey displayed at the Hall of Fame. Hyde averaged 17.1 points and hit 138 3-pointers during her freshman season. She is heading to Belmont.

“The Ring of Honor is an exhibit at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame where we honor the nation’s top players at every level,” Kelly Mathis, Director of Development for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame said in a news release. “To have your jersey on display at the Hall of Fame is a huge privilege and we are proud to celebrate the accomplishments of these young women.”

The Ring of Honor consists of more than 100 jerseys hanging from the rafters of the back rotunda at the Hall of Fame. The Ring of Honor has displayed jerseys from the best players in the world including Candace Parker, Sue Bird, Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart and Aja Wilson.

Sixth grader Johnny Scimone won all four drill events at Lyons youth camp. Photo courtesy of Lyons Township High School

Super camp for Scimone
Johnny Scimone swept all of the sixth-grade events at last week’s Lyons youth football camp

Scimone used his arm and leg for the longest pass and longest punt championships and won the shuttle and 20-yard dash competitions as well.

In the younger-age division, longest-pass winners were first-grader Issac Sacadat, second-grader Griff Wegrzyn, third-grader Luca Licitra and fourth-grader Louis Lacey.

Longest-punt winners were Sacadat, second-grader Wyatt Smith, third-grader Grayson Goss and fourth-grader Gianni Damergis.

The 20-yard dash champs were first-grader Charlie Selz, second-grader Mac Sykes, third-graders Charlie Vincent and David Napleton, and fourth-grader Patrick Cella.

Short-shuttle champs were Selz, second-grader Jimmy Maley, third-grader Matthew Rodgers and fourth-grader Cyrus Rodriguez.

In the older division, the longest-punt winners were fifth-grader Evan Ellis, sixth-grader Scimone, seventh-grader Jack Williams and eighth-grader Russell Alan.

The longest-pass winners were fifth-grader Braddock Lawler, Scimone, seventh-grader Charlie Kienzie and eighth-grader Wolfie Ketterling.

The shuttle champions were Lawler, Scimone, Williams and eighth-grader Jackson Flickenger.

The 20-yard dash champs were fifth grader Evan Ellis, sixth grader Scimone, seventh grader Williams and eighth grader Coleman O’Sullivan.

Hayes wins national championship
Rocco Hayes, who will be junior at Sandburg this school year, won the junior men’s freestyle national championship at 100 pounds when he beat Kiyan Simon of Alabama, 9-0, at the Junior and 16U USA Wrestling championships held July 19 in Fargo.

Hayes, who finished third in the state last season at 106 pounds in the IHSA Class 3A tournament, beat four opponents by technical fall before nearly pulling one off another in the championship, missing it by one point.

Morton bits
• The school hired Jim Goranson as the new softball coach. Goranson has coached the U18 Illinois Bash. According to Morton officials, he has helped send players to Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan and Iowa during his tenure.

• The Panthers men’s soccer team made it all the way to the NJCAA Division championship game in Tucson, Arizona, in 2022, only to lost to a team from its own conference in Prairie State. The two Skyway Conference teams will battle a little closer to home in their next meeting when they face off at 4 p.m. Sept. 7 in Chicago Heights.