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Wheaton North's Baird hits 1,000-point mark in victory vs. Schaumburg

Wheaton North senior Nikki Baird had bigger priorities than dwelling on her scoring milestone Thursday night.

Baird scored her 1,000th varsity point against Schaumburg in a Bill Neibch Falcon Classic quarterfinal. But more importantly, the Falcons advanced with a convincing 56-31 girls basketball victory in Wheaton.

"Honestly, this community and this program and this team means infinitely more to me than any points in the record book, any number," Baird said. "It's a cool accomplishment, but more importantly we went 1-0 against a really good Schaumburg team, so that's all I'm worried about. And we're moving to the semifinals now of a really good tournament. And I'm just really proud of all the girls."

Entering the game with 992 points, Baird missed her first shot, then hit a pair of long 3-pointers, the kind of shot she is known for. But the milestone came on a lay-in from the left side of the basket at the 4:50 mark of the first quarter to give the Falcons an 8-2 lead.

"Obviously, she's a tremendous basketball player," Falcons coach Dave Eaton said. "We know that. Belmont (University) is getting one heck of a kid.

"But I'm just most impressed by who she is as a person. She is a tremendous leader for our team on and off the floor. And I think that's the coolest thing to me is it really isn't about her. They made the (public-address) announcement in the huddle and it so happened we were in a little bit of a break and she was already trying to move on and be done with it."

She became the second member of her family to reach the milestone at Wheaton North. Baird's older sister, Chrissy, scored 1,076 points, reaching the 1,000 mark at Naperville Central, Nikki Baird recalled.

"It was on a 3, which she didn't shoot that many 3s, so it was really funny that she made it on a 3," Baird said. "December, around midseason, so around the same time."

Baird scored the Falcons' first 10 points. She finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists and barely played after halftime.

The way the Falcons (11-0) are playing, you can't blame Baird for wanting to focus on the team. They hit on all cylinders, taking a 32-17 lead at halftime and enlarging it from there.

"Honestly, we're just having a lot of fun," Baird said. "The chemistry of this group is unmatched by any team I've ever been on before."

Falcons freshman guard Claire Hyde added 12 points. The top-seeded Falcons will meet No. 4 Bartlett in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

No. 8 Schaumburg (9-7) will play unseeded Waubonsie Valley at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

"I thought we had them on their toes in the beginning of that game," Saxons coach Jacqie Strauch said. "We made them work. We didn't just give it up. This is probably one of their lower-scoring games. And for us, we just needed to put the ball in the hole."

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