Burlington Central's Holt joins 1,000 club
Any jitters Shelby Holt may have had Monday night went away in 10 seconds.
The Burlington Central senior entered Monday's game against Rockford Christian on Rocket Hill needing just 2 points to become the fifth girl in program history to score 1,000 career points.
The Rockets won the tip, Holt took a pass from senior Kayla Ross in the left corner and nailed a 3-pointer just 10 seconds into the game to join Jenna Real, Cindy Hilbrich, Jordan Maisto and current teammate Sam Pryor on the school's 1,000 list for girls basketball.
Holt finished with 16 points as the Rockets (7-0, 3-0) won their 41st straight Big Northern East game 76-5, the lowest point total allowed by any Central varsity basketball team in school history.
"Basketball has been a part of my life forever so it means a lot to be recognized as the fifth girl from the school to do this," said Holt, who will play at Division II Quincy University next year. "It shows all the work I've put into this program and every program I've played in has been worth it. I didn't even think about 1,000 until Sam got hers last year. I came into this season hoping it would happen early so it's kind of cool."
Rockets' fourth-year coach Mark Smith first met Holt when she was in seventh grade and Smith was an assistant for the Lady Lightning AAU program Holt played in.
"She could probably shoot in the crib," Smith joked after Holt reached her milestone Monday. "She can shoot. I've known her a long time and she's always been a great shooter. We have to remind her to shoot more.
"But this year more than anything I'm pressed with her senior leadership. She's been vocal and she's really shown strong senior leadership."
Monday's game was pretty much in hand for the Rockets about the time the teams came out of the locker rooms. It was 25-0 after one quarter and 43-2 at halftime. Rockford Christian didn't get a shot off for the first 5-plus minutes and didn't score until there was 2:53 left in the first half. By that time the Central starters had already been on the bench for 3 minutes and the score was 36-0.
Ross added 13 points to the win, junior Madelynne Drescher scored 10 off the bench, senior Rebecca Gerke had 8 and junior Kristina Ahlers added 8 off the bench. Ross now has 885 career points.
The Rockets are now off until Dec. 26 when they play Crystal Lake South in the opening round of the Charger Classic at Dundee-Crown.