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Rockets roll; Tipton hits 1,000
Photo
(10) Mckenzie Pfeifer of South Range glides to the hoop as (20) Crystal Richards goes for the block Thursday night.
By Joe Scalzo
LOWELLVILLE
With just over two minutes left in the third quarter of Thursday’s game, Wellsville junior Courtney Cook fired a baseline bounce pass to classmate Mikyla Tipton, who banked in a layup to cut the Tigers’ deficit to 42 points.
Immediately, Wellsville coach Ed Swogger called a timeout.
“I was like, ‘What’s going on?’” Tipton said. “Then everyone started clapping and I realized I had 1,000 points.”
It was a memorable moment in a forgettable game, as the host Rockets rolled to an 82-49 victory in an Inter Tri-County League Tier Two game.
Tipton, who had 10 points at the time of the bucket, finished with 22 and became the fifth Tiger to reach 1,000 career points. No. 1 on that list is Jasmine Richardson, who scored just under 1,500 before graduating in 2007.
“We’ve been close ever since I was little,” Tipton said of Richardson. “We talk about it and she tells me, ‘You’re the only person I want to beat it.’ She texts me before every game, telling me good luck.
“She’s like my second sister.”
Tipton said she knew she’d reach 1,000 points sometime this week — “Well, hopefully it was gonna be this week” — but didn’t realize it would happen so soon.
“It’s an honor just to even be up there with those girls and to do that as a junior, it’s huge,” she said. “It’s been one of my goals since my freshman year to be one of the best to come out of Wellsville.”
Lowellville, meanwhile, is hoping to become one of the best teams in school history. Led by juniors Ashley Moore (26 points, five steals, four rebounds), Emily Carlson (18 points, eight assists, three steals) and Taylor Hvisdak (18 points, six rebounds, four steals, four assists), the Rockets were never threatened.
Lowellville (15-0, 10-0) has cruised through its schedule — its closest win was 13 points — so to create competition, coach Tony Matisi has had assistant coach Ashleigh Tondo (McDonald’s all-time leading scorer) and her former Case Western Reserve teammates practice against the Rockets.
“They kick our butts all the time,” said Matisi. “That’s the only thing that keeps us going. Our practices are 10 times harder than the games.”
On Jan. 16, Division I Howland lost to defending Division IV champion Canal Winchester Harvest Prep in the Classic in the Country, so a state title isn’t realistic for Lowellville.
Not that Matisi wouldn’t like to try.
“[Howland coach] John Diehl told me, ‘I hope I have to give you the tape,’” Matisi said.
He smiled, then added, “I’d take a whupping from them.”