During my rather brief varsity basketball career, I scored a measly five points.
I say this because during my two-month stint at the Tribune Chronicle thus far, four area girls have reached the 1,000-point milestone, a feat that I cannot even fathom.
Two players - Lordstown's Sarah Cash and Austintown Fitch's Megan Sefcik - recorded their 1,000th point as juniors, making my career mark look so - lousy.
If I had managed to score that many points in my career, I would have flipped out. It got me thinking about how these four girls - Cash, Sefcik, Bristol's Ally Jones and Champion's Mackenzie Kiser - celebrated their accomplishment. While some had little reaction, others ranged to instant jubliation.
When Cash recorded her 1,000th point against the Lowellville Rockets on Dec. 27, it didn't feel like much of a much of celebration.
The junior forward made her free throw, received the ball and a quick hug from her coach Dave Smith and moved onto her second shot from the charity stripe. Nothing more than a short pause in the game.
Now, it must be pointed out that she reached her milestone on the road in a game between two undefeated teams at that point. In the fact, the game turned out to be a down-to-the-wire thriller.
Cash concerns herself more with the team's success than anything else. Sure, she averages 23.3 points and 18.6 rebounds per game, but her determination to help her team win drives those statistics more than anything.
Still, she could take a lesson from the Stjarnan soccer team in Iceland on celebrating feats (Google "Icelandic soccer goal celebration"). They celebrate as a team, if she needs that as a motivation.
Like Cash, Sefcik earned her 1,000th point on the road and didn't want the spotlight thrown on her in the middle of the game one week ago.
But her teammates wouldn't let her off without showing her how much she has meant to the program.
Despite having the smallest crowd of the four, her teammates made up the difference after the junior reached the milestone early in the second quarter against Howland. Sitting to my right, the Falcons' bench and junior varsity squads created a wall of sound that deafened most nearby.
The heartfelt emotion led me to believe that if she had attained this goal at home, it would have looked a little different.
While Cash and Sefcik achieved the feats away, Jones reached the milestone at home and she received a warm reception.
A large home crowd waited in anticipation for the senior center to become the fourth Panther in program history to record more than 1,000 points in her career. People prepared signs to help her celebrate and flashed them following a shot from the low block early in the second quarter that clinched it.
The fans gave her a standing ovation, and each of her teammates gave her a hug immediately afterward. Junior varsity coach Russ Molinatto, who had coached Jones since she was in eighth grade, gave her the game ball.
Overall, it felt like a warm family holiday meal, although Pymatuning Valley defeated Bristol that night, which put a damper on the festivities after the game.
Lastly was Kiser - and Champion put on a stellar celebration on Jan. 24.
I must premise this by saying that out of the four, the Golden Flashes played the easiest opponent - a winless Campbell team. Therefore, they could afford to focus more on Kiser's achievement than the game.
Following two free throws at the 2:34 mark in the first quarter, the game stopped to acknowledge her joining the 1,000-point club like the others, but the Champion people pulled out quite a few stops.
Kiser didn't receive the game ball but a ball pre-decorated with the date and achievement painted in pink. Her teammates and fans celebrated her during a longer break than the others, and in an act of pure class from the Campbell girls, each of the five Red Devils on the floor hugged Kiser before play resumed.
As impressive as that was, everybody was invited to eat a cake with Kiser's picture after the game. You can't go wrong with cake.
Despite the jesting, I would like to congratulate all four girls on scoring over 1,000 points in their careers. There's a reason those lists at each school are so small - it's not easy.