Two weeks earlier, Stagg senior Gail Korbitz was excited to watch teammate Laila Barakat score her 1,000th point.
On Jan. 22, Korbitz experienced it herself in a game against Hillcrest.
The 6-foot-1 guard/forward will not forget that night.
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“It was a feeling of excitement, a feeling of achievement I’ll always remember,” Korbitz said. “Being able to get there with Laila made it that much better. It was a really cool experience. I’m just really grateful.”
The actual shot? Korbitz also will remember that with a smile.
“It was kind of a wonky free throw,” Korbitz said. “It wasn’t a pretty free throw. It bounced around the rim and then went in.
“It was kind of awkward, but I liked it. It was funny.”
After the free throw went down, Stagg coach Bill Turner called a timeout. The achievement was recognized by the Hillcrest announcer.
“Hillcrest was really great about it,” Turner said. “They were really super. Afterward, we went back to school and took some photos. It worked out well.
“It’s really been a special year to have two players on the same team in the same year reach 1,000 points.”
Barakat reached the 1,000-point plateau in a Jan. 8 game against Richards. She and Korbitz have joined Heather King, Krista Peterson and Kelsey Kelley in the program’s 1,000-point club.
“Honestly, it was not even on my radar at all,” Korbitz said. “In my freshman year, I was really just grateful to be on the team. We had a lot of scorers that season, so I wasn’t even an offensive player at all.
“It was never in my mind back that I would get to this number. It’s a huge number. The fact that I actually did is really crazy, really cool.”
Bring it on: Lincoln-Way Central junior Keira Hunt really enjoys the challenge when some of the football players occasionally take part in their practices.
“It’s a lot of fun when they come in,” Hunt said, laughing. “They’re big and strong. They really don’t know what they’re doing playing basketball because they play football. But they are good competition to play against.
“I have a twin brother I play against a lot, so it’s kind of like the same thing. He just makes me better.”
Hunt’s twin brother Jack is 6-0. Keira is 5-4.
She stands tall when it comes to shooting, however.
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“Keira is a girl you look at and think she’s small in stature,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Dave Campanile said. “But she plays outside of her body. She plays bigger than her size.
“She’s been like that since she came to us, and even before that when she played at Mokena Junior High. She’s a kid who is a gamer — who rises to the occasion.”
Hunt, who has made 52 3-pointers, is averaging 10 points for the Knights (17-7). She’s shooting 86% from the free-throw line. Hunt was the MVP of the Sandburg Holiday Tournament.
“I came into the season knowing I wanted to get out there and be noticed,” Hunt said. “I’ve been working really hard this summer. I knew we were going to have a good team with a lot of good chemistry.”
From the bleachers: Mother McAuley coach Keisha Newell and her players are a big hit on the social media circuit.
Before Thursday’s game, Newell stood in the third row of the grandstands and made a basket. The players, meanwhile, did an elaborate dancing routine.
Newell was following the lead of South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.
“She made a shot from the bleachers in a college arena and has been posting it,” Newell said. “Other coaches have been doing it too. So we decided, ‘Let’s do it.’ And we added the celebration at the end.”
Newell took a dozen shots from the bleachers. She made two.
“It was uncomfortable because I couldn’t take a step and I couldn’t really jump,” Newell said. “I just really didn’t want to fall, honestly.”
The dance party came from watching Nebraska’s players on national television.
“Our girls picked up on it and wanted to do it,” Newell said. “I think the celebration was better than the shot. They did a good job with it.”