Senior forward Kelsey Evans is looking to end her Elon University basketball career on a high note, with five games left in the regular season. The 6-foot-2-inch forward from Raleigh is already having a career year in her final season sporting the maroon and gold, averaging career highs in nearly every category including points-per-game, field goals made, free-throws and three-point percentage. These numbers show just how valuable Evans is and has been to the Phoenix squad throughout her time with the program.
The forward’s presence in the Phoenix starting five has become a formality, as she has played in 106 games of the team’s 109 since she arrived in 2009, starting 104 of them. Her only absence from the floor came in her junior year when she was injured early in the season.
“I had a bad high ankle sprain where I missed three games,” Evans recalled.
There was a time, though, when Evans was not going to wear maroon and gold at all.
Originally, Evans signed a national letter of intent to play for Elon’s Southern Conference rival, Western Carolina University. Those plans changed though when the coach that was responsible for getting Evans to Cullowhee, Kellie Harper, left the program to replace the late Kay Yow at North Carolina State University.
Though Evans wanted to change her commitment to Elon, Western Carolina initially didn’t allow Evans to back out on her commitment to play for the Catamounts.
A brief legal dispute ensued with Evans’ attorney, Gus Gusler, arguing that Evans signed the letter when she was 17, and thus a minor.
North Carolina state law allows minors to back out of contracts prior to turning 18 years of age. Western Carolina released Evans from her contract before the lawsuit was ever filed, however. Evans enrolled at Elon and the rest is history.
Literally.
Despite all of the impressive stats Evans has racked up this season, perhaps her biggest accomplishments are the two career milestones she’s surpassed through the season.
On Dec. 1, 2012, in a home loss to the College of Charleston, Evans hit a jumper in the opening minute of the game that saw her eclipse the 1,000 point mark. She joined teammate Ali Ford as the two active Phoenix players with 1000 career points. The career mark also made Evans the 19th player in program history with 1,000 points.
Her second milestone was the all-time block record. With four blocks in the win over Georgia Southern on Jan. 28, Evans found herself alone at the top of the block leader boards, surpassing ’04 graduate Courtney Nyborg.
“I take pride in my defense,” Evans said on her blocks record. However, she said she’s equally proud of both milestones. “I wouldn’t pick one over the other.”
Though she won’t pass the mark set by ’82 graduate Jeannie Hairston, Evans will finish third in program history in rebounding. The senior already has passed four former Phoenix and currently has 948. Hairston’s career mark is 1,353.
Evans surely has secured a place in the Elon basketball history books. However, she wants to achieve more than just individual success in her final year in the maroon and gold.
“Our daily goal is to just get better, but we need to hit our peak going into March,” she said.
Besides daily improvements, Evans acknowledges that the end goal is in fact to “win a championship.”
Every team looks for success, but the goal is becoming more of a reality as Elon is sitting near the top of the Southern Conference. Evans accredited the team’s increased belief to the optimistic coaching staff.
“The coaches always believed in us, but now with us high in the standings it helps us believe that it can happen,” Evans said. “We know we’re talented enough to do it.”
Evans knows her time in an Elon jersey is winding down, and senior night on March 2 is already weighing on her mind.
“I’ve definitely thought about my last home game,” she said. “I imagine emotions will be riding high.”
Evans may have made her namesake on the basketball court, but she said her time at Alumni Gym is not all she will miss about being at Elon.
“I’m going to miss the relationships with students, coaches, friends, teammates, professors,” Evans said.
Evans and the Phoenix start the home stretch to the finish line at 7 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, Feb. 20, in Alumni Gym against Wofford College.