Howland's Price joins 6 others to surpass 1,000 points

January 5, 2016 at 12:05a.m.

HOWLAND

Before Monday’s game, the Howland High School girls basketball program had six players who had scored 1,000 points during their careers.

Sara Price became the seventh when she scored 24 points in a 57-34 victory over Niles.

In 59 varsity games, the junior has 1,017 points and is the fastest to reach the school’s milestone. Price surpassed all-time scoring leader Taylor Williams (1,512 points) who needed 61 games.

“I don’t remember scoring my first varsity points, but they came against Madison my freshman year and they felt really special,” Price said.

She was seven points shy heading into the game with the Red Dragons (4-6). She reached the milestone with 1:53 remaining in the first quarter as she grabbed a rebound off of her own missed three-point attempt, then drove the lane and banked it in from the right side.

“A couple people told me that I was close to 1,000 points before the game, but I wasn’t sure exactly how many,” Price said. “I just came out, played hard and was ready to go. Tonight was also very special.”

Victoria Rappach, Kendyl Buckley and Mackenzie Maze each added nine points for the Tigers (9-4).

Eight points by Maze in the second quarter helped the Tigers forge a 27-18 halftime advantage.

“Now that this is behind me, it’s just continue to move forward,” Price said. “We’re a team that can still get better so we have to just keep practicing and playing hard.”

Howland head coach John Diehl says that Price can hurt opponents in many ways.

“Sara is just a very good shooter and she has expanded her game to three points, as you can see with her hitting a couple tonight,” Diehl said. “You really can’t stop her one-on-one and it takes teams at least two players in order to stop her.

“She can shoot off the dribble, she’s long and she’s tall so how do you guard someone that’s shooting the three-pointer out there who is 6-1?” Diehl said.

Losing a couple of tight games has made the Tigers come together as they eye the stretch run of the season.

“We’ve lost three close games, had the opportunity to win but just didn’t,” Diehl said. “My guards are young as it is their first year of playing varsity. Hopefully they’re learning and toward the end of the season we’ll be able to win those close games.”

Nine points by Price in the third frame helped Howland to a 40-27 lead.

With nine points, Rappach is 20 points shy from reaching the 1,000-point plateau.

She and Price could become the second Tigers duo to reach 1,000 career points in the same season, joining Williams and Erika Nites (1,214) who accomplished the feat in 2012. The other Tigers who topped 1,000 points are: Angela Cape, 1,344, 2011; Kim Lazor, 1,339, 1989; Alexa Williams, 1,131, 2008; and Marianne Krezceczowski, 1,033, 2002.

When reminded that Rappach was also approaching the career milestone, Price smiled.

“She definitely deserves it,” Price said. “She puts a lot of hard work into both practice and games and I’ll just keep getting the ball into her hands until she gets it.”

Red Dragons head coach Doug Foster proclaimed the Tigers a strong team.

“With a 1,000 point scorer already this season and another really close, they’re an excellent team,” Foster said. “We’re a work in progress and trying hard, but you need to make the easy shots if you expect to beat a team like Howland.”

The Tigers were 23 of 61 from the field while the Red Dragons canned just 14 of 57 field goal attempts.