Girls Basketball: Swanson Hits 1,000 as Oak Forest Rolls Past Evergreen Park

The Skinny: With four starters looking on from the bench for various reasons, the Evergreen Park Mustangs couldn't get anything going against the Oak Forest Bengals in Oak Forest on Friday night. The Bengals' suffocating half-court defense held the Mustangs to just one field goal in a 55-8 victory, while the Bengals' offense ruled the boards and low-post scoring in the win. The Bengals led 25-1 at halftime and never looked back.

Patch’s MVP: Oak Forest's Katie Swanson (16 points). Swanson led the Bengals in scoring for the game and hit her 1,000th varsity career point on a sweet scoop layup in the third quarter in the paint.

Key Stats: Evergreen Park hit only one shot from the floor during the game, which came late in the fourth quarter from Megan Beckow. On the opposite end of the spectrum, every Bengals player hit at least one shot. 

Oak Forest’s Leaders: Katie Swanson (16 points), Maddie Baxa (11 points) and Emily Naegele (6 points).

Evergreen Park Leaders: Megan Beckow (4 points), and Nicole Larkin (3 points).

Quotable I: Evergreen Park coach Bruce Scaduto on his team's lack of depth: “We're just trying to do a little chess match with some of the players just to survive. I've got about four starters on the bench right now, due to different things. We have yet to play with a full team this year.”

Quotable II: Bengals captain Katie Swanson on her career milestone: “I actually had no idea I was even close until my whole family was here, then I had some idea.”

Team Records: Oak Forest improved to 5-5 overall and 3-1 in the South Suburban Conference, while Evergreen Park fell to 1-9 and 1-3.

What’s Next: Oak Forest heads to the Hillcrest Holiday Classic to take on Sandburg on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 1:30 p.m. Evergreen Park takes on Oak Lawn High School at 10:30 a.m. at Oak Lawn on Saturday, Dec. 17.