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1,000 points: A High Schooler’s Entrance into an Exclusive Club
By: Thomas Garverick
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The 1,000-point club is considered immortality for a high school basketball player.
All of the hours spent in the gym — the countless number of shots — help refine a player’s hard work.
Just four players in WOUB’s Hardwood Heroes coverage have reached the coveted milestone:
Waterford’s Megan Ball and Alli Kern, Trimble’s Randy Hixson and Alexander’s Rachel Richardson.
For Ball and Kern, reaching the goal the same year was special for the Wildcat standouts. The two have spent their whole lives playing AAU basketball together — building up to this moment.
What was even sweeter, Kern assisted Ball to get her to 1,000 points. Ball was grinning ear-to-ear after the team’s win against Federal Hocking on Jan.18 that saw her join the exclusive club with her best friend.
“It felt incredible,” Ball said. “We each had the thought of giving each other our 1,000-point and knowing it came from her, I think it became more special knowing we played basketball for four years together.”
Meanwhile two Vinton County players are also getting ready to join the club.
Naylan Yates and Cassie Bentley have been the unquestioned leaders for their respective Viking teams. Yates needs 40 points and Bentley needs 28 points. The two Viking seniors will break those milestones before they head into postseason play.
But for others, the milestone isn’t hanging over their head anymore, and they can go back to just playing the game.
“It feels good to have [the 1,000-point milestone],” Richardson said. “The pressure of not having it is off, so it’s nice that I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Not only was she playing with that pressure, Richardson was also trying to live up to her older sister Leah’s legacy, who graduated last year. Richardson is only a junior and will have a chance to break the Spartans’ all-time scoring record next season.
She’ll try to do what Nelsonville-York’s Jesse Addis could achieve Thursday night. Addis, a senior, hit her 1,000-point in her junior season as well.
Addis is just 15 points away from becoming the Buckeyes’ all-time leading scorer and will face off against Richardson and the Spartans to have a chance for her name to be etched in Buckeye history.