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Tigers’ Rappach reaches 1,000
By Greg Gulas
HOWLAND
For the second time in five days, the Howland Tigers have produced a 1,000 point scorer.
Their most recent member, Victoria Rappach, has been called by head coach John Diehl the most surprising addition to the school’s elite list.
Rappach nailed eight 3-pointers and had a game-high 26 points and Mackenzie Maze added 17 as the Tigers defeated East High School, 81-46 in All-American Conference, Red Tier action Saturday at the Tigers’ Gymnasium.
Rappach now joins teammate Sara Price, who notched her 1,000th point this past Monday against Niles McKinley.
“This is very special because not many people have made it this far in their career,” Rappach said. “This is my last season here, we’ve all connected as a team and we’re working really well together.”
Tigers head coach John Diehl called his long distance dial-up threat a very special player.
“Victoria is by far the best shooter that I have ever seen,” he said. “She was our most improved player her sophomore and junior years, and she is going to be our most improved player again this year because she drives better, gets her shot off quicker off of a screen and is just one heck of a kid.”
Eight Howland girls have now scored 1,000 points for a career, but Diehl says that Rappach, while not the most unassuming, might very well be the most unlikely.
“Tori was probably the least likely to score 1,000 points. When she was a freshman, she had under 100 points and I never dreamed that she would score this many points,” he said. “She’s just gotten better and better and better. She’s my most unlikely player to score 1,000 points — and she did it.”
Rappach is currently No. 1 in the state in Division I with 238 career 3-pointers and is shooting an amazing 53.6 percent from beyond the arc. With eight 3-pointers against the Panthers (2-11, 0-7), she moved into 13th place in the state for all divisions.
At her current pace, she is on track to move into fourth place on the career state listing.
“Her father taught her proper form when she was little and I think she only made about six 3’s in junior high,” Diehl said. “As she got a little stronger, she had the great form and that’s probably why they have been going in so much.”
Rappach connected on three buckets from beyond the arc and scored 11 points in the opening period as the Tigers (10-4, 5-1) raced to the early 19-8 advantage.
“In the beginning I wasn’t feeling it, but the more I shot the better I felt,” Rappach said. “Honestly, I wasn’t really thinking about. I just went out there, played and concentrated on winning.”
Two more triples by Rappach and five points by Maze then helped Howland build a 36-18 halftime advantage.
“We tried to do the same thing we did last time when we held her [Rappach] to just six points, and that was to keep someone on her at all times in order to contest her shot,” East head coach Levon Lamb said. “She is one player in our league that you must always prepare for, so congratulations to her on hitting her 1,000th point.”