Evans "Points" Wooster to Unprecedented Women's Basketball Success

Branching out from her identical twin sister for the first time, Christy Evans formed an identity for herself at The College of Wooster – the sparkplug for the most successful stretch in women’s basketball history.

The sisters grew up in the small town of West Lafayette, Ohio, and began their love of basketball at an early age, eventually starring for Ridgewood High School. Christy Evans earned honorable mention all-Ohio and Inland District V Player-of-the-Year honors, while Amy Evans was the team’s Most Valuable Player their last two seasons. When it came time to choose a college, Amy picked Ohio Wesleyan University and Christy went to Wooster, both unaware the teams were fierce rivals during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Looking back, Christy cites that those Ohio Wesleyan-Wooster games, which appropriately went four wins for Ohio Wesleyan and four wins for Wooster in eight total meetings, were “the most memorable.”

Wooster remembers Christy Evans for much more than those games against her sister, as the 5-4 point guard stepped right into the starting lineup as a freshman and guided the program to unprecedented success, which has not been matched since. Leading the way in assists (119) and steals (77), she helped transform a group that was coming off three-straight losing seasons into a winner, as the Lady Scots went 16-11 and reached the finals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. For her efforts, Evans received honorable mention on the all-NCAC Team.

She posted similar passing and defensive statistics as a sophomore, while bumping up her scoring average from 5.8 points to 9.4 points. Most impressive, though, Evans steered Wooster to a 20-6 record, capped off by one of the most notable games in team history as the Lady Scots thrashed Wittenberg University 72-56 during the NCAC Tournament championship. The Tigers had entered with a 25-1 record, but with Evans dishing out a career-high 13 assists, Wittenberg was no match for Wooster that day.

Evans’ best statistical year came as a junior, as she set school records for assists with 151, a remarkable average of 6.0 per game, and free throw percentage at .841, while also posting career-highs in rebounding (5.2 rpg) and field-goal percentage (.483), the latter helping her to 11.1 points per game. Always with a team-first attitude, Evans was disappointed, though, as the Lady Scots’ record dipped slightly to 18-7.

Prior to her senior campaign, then-Wooster coach Chris Hart was quoted as saying, “Christy is our catalyst. She has been a model of consistency and our leader on and off the floor throughout her career.”

Evans lived up to that expectation in 1991-92, putting up similar numbers of 12.0 points, 4.9 assists, and 1.9 steals, while leading the team to another 20 wins (20-7). After being honorable mention all-conference her first three seasons, Evans took a much overdue spot on the All-NCAC First Team.

Evans added her memories “have very little to do with records or wins or statistics,” but those certainly speak to her being one of the greatest to ever suit up for the Lady Scots’ basketball team. For her career, she finished with 529 assists, nearly 200 more than any other in school history, as well as with 225 steals and 998 points, which ranked No. 2 and No. 3 upon her graduation, respectively, while starting all 105 games she played, another still-standing school record. Additionally, her .397 3-point percentage and .797 free throw percentage  are among the top-five at Wooster in those categories.

When Evans, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English, talks hoops today, it’s referring to the Civil War costumes that she sometimes wears as part of her job with tourism and educational programming for the Gahanna Historical Society in central Ohio.