Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Gibsonburg’s Elly Evarts decided it was the right time to make her college decision as the rising senior guard for the school’s girls basketball team announced her intent earlier this month to play at Division I Kent State University.
With her choice, Evarts will compete in the Mid-American Conference against schools such as BGSU and the University of Toledo, places that she grew up watching games in person with dreams of playing at that level.
“Growing up I would go to the Toledo and BG games, and I'd think ‘Oh this is so cool,’ but I didn't really know what it took, and now to be able to play in this conference and play D-I basketball, it's just very, very cool for me,” Evarts said. “It’s definitely a blessing.”
In three seasons at Gibsonburg, Evarts has averaged 21.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.6 steals, 4.3 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game. She has guided the Golden Bears to three league championships and a combined 60-14 record. Individually, she is a three-time All-Ohio selection, including first team recognition as a junior.
Evarts reached 1,000 career points as a sophomore and enters her senior season with 1,587, which includes 256 3-pointers at a 38 percent clip. With another comparable season, she could reach 2,000 career points and finish among the top five all-time for most career 3-pointers in the state of Ohio.
Bo Evarts, Elly’s father and her head coach at Gibsonburg, said that despite all that success, the process was an interesting one and that she was fortunate to get an early start.
“With this transfer portal and everything, it’s crazy now,” he said. “We’ve talked to these coaches, and if this was 10 years ago, Elly would be playing high mid-major or even Power 4. Now Power 4’s are getting the best mid-majors and the top 100 kids in the country.
“Elly’s been fortunate because she has some pretty good teammates in AAU, and they're hardly getting Division I looks. They're getting Division II looks. Elly was fortunate early on to get some offers, and that led to more.”
Evarts has been familiar with the program at Kent State for several years, but a lull in communication and a coaching change put the school lower on the list. However, a Kent State connection with her AAU coach with the Michigan Storm kept the pulse alive, and once long-time assistant coach Fran Recchia was elevated to head coach in April, an offer came soon after.
“I just had a really good connection with them throughout the spring and summer,” Evarts said. “We went on the visit there at the end of June, and I felt like it was a really good fit. She even laid out for me, ‘There's a girl graduating, you'd be coming in this spot.’ Obviously, she's not guaranteeing me anything, but I felt she already had a plan for me. (Ultimately), I think I could go in there as a freshman and possibly play a little bit. I felt it's a good fit, and it's not too far from home. It's only two hours, and they play in the MAC so there's Toledo, BG, and all that so friends and family can come to those games.”
The decision came down to Kent State, Ohio University, Duquesne, and Belmont. After her last AAU tournament, it was down to two as Ohio and Duquesne were eliminated.
“I just had to weigh some pros and cons, and we talked to my AAU coach one more time,” Evarts said. “He was already a Kent guy to begin with. He laid it out for me, and I was like, ‘That really does make sense.’ I was trying to be closer to home, but Belmont had a lot to offer, and they are in Nashville. Eventually we sat down and said, ‘I really do think Kent's the winner of this.’ I called (Recchia) the next day. It was super exciting.”
After eighth grade, Evarts began this entire recruiting process after her dad asked her if she was interested in it.
“My freshman year, it was really eye-opening,” she said. “We went to our first Under Armour tournament and there were just coaches everywhere. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is crazy. I've never seen this many coaches.’ And then coaches would come to our games and stuff. I'm like, ‘Wow, this is really cool.’”
Over those next few years, Evarts said one thing she really enjoyed was getting to know so many coaches. That made it all the much harder to tell all but one school no. She had enjoyed weighing the pros and cons at each school and discovering things about each place that she didn’t know, in addition to the human aspect.
“It was very eye-opening, and honestly I felt like I had to be an adult in this situation,” she said. “Obviously my mom and dad could help me out but it's my decision. I had to really pay attention and decide from there. I didn't feel stressed out, but once I made my decision, I felt relieved. I think I made the right choice. I didn't really think I could go wrong anyways, but I'm really excited. There’s a lot of blessings from it.”
Evarts originally planned on making the decision around October, or before the high school basketball season started, but the choice became clear earlier.
“As AAU kept going, I didn’t really think I was going to need to do that, especially once it hit July after that first session,” she said. “I had visited everywhere I thought I needed to go. Instead of getting recruited by a new school, July was all the schools that have offered me coming to support me, so I didn't really need to keep trying to prove myself or anything given the amount of schools I have.”
Now that her college decision is in the rearview mirror, Evarts said her goal is to win a state championship on the way out, especially considering the Golden Bears are now Division VII after three seasons of being just above the enrollment threshold.
And in the NIL and transfer portal era, Evarts takes pride in knowing that she ultimately made it where she wanted to for college while playing four seasons at the same small school. Her mom went to Gibsonburg growing up, and having her dad as a head coach helped, but times have changed.
“I didn’t realize how many people are going places all the time now,” she said. “It doesn't matter, college or high school, people are switching all the time, but we have a really loyal fan base here. We might not be a very big town, but we get a lot of people at our games. It’s the small community aspect of it.
“There's a lot of people from my church that are going now, so that's really cool to see. I like the fans, the community aspect of it, and all the friends I’ve made here. I just didn’t find a point in leaving. The recruiting comes from AAU anyway. It’s a really cool time, and we're excited for one more year.”
And her father reiterated those big goals for this year.
“Elly has worked harder this offseason than I’ve ever seen,” Bo Evarts said. “She realizes this is her senior year. She wants to make sure it ends on the right track, and the one thing we’re still missing is making it to state. That’s our goal, and we feel like it’s very realistic this year. Obviously things have to fall in place and everybody has to remain healthy, but we’re really excited.”
