By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Earlier this season, Miriam Ibezim had to wait an extra game to reach the 1,000-point plateau. The Gates Chili senior didn’t want a similar experience with her career milestone in rebounds.
Ibezim grabbed a defensive board early in the fourth quarter of Monday’s Section V Class AA quarter-final game. The rebound was the senior center’s 14th of the night and 1,000th of her career.
“It’s a big accomplishment,” she said after Gates downed Edison Tech, 84-29. “It’s something that I’ve been working on and something that I’ve been skilled with since I was little.”
Averaging nearly 19 rebounds per game, the Oakland University-commit has grabbed 246 boards in this pandemic-shortened season. Ibezim hauled in 232 rebounds over 16 games played a year ago and 282 in her sophomore season.
“She’s really made it a craft,” Gates head coach Rachel Leonard said. “She takes a lot of pride in it.”
Ibezim finished with a game-high 32 points in Monday’s win. She led three in double figures. Teammates Terah Echols and Paris Anthony had 20 and 10 points respectively. Echols grabbed 10 rebounds. Anthony collected six rebounds and four assists.
With the win, No. 2 seed Gates (10-3) advances to meet No. 6 Penfield in the semi-finals.
Ibezim scored her 1,000th point against Hilton on February 27th. This after stopping at 998 points in the previous game.
“I’m definitely glad I got it out of the way now,” she said of Monday’s milestone. “I wouldn’t have wanted to have this on my mind next game. With my thousandth point, it was on my mind. Even if was the first two points. I don’t want to force anything or do anything extra.”
Ibezim joins Bishop Kearney star and Seton Hall-commit Saniaa Wilson as the only two active Section V girls with at least 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
“In a lot of ways, I feel like she was chasing that one (the rebound milestone) harder than her thousand points,” Leonard said. “She’s done a great job on the boards. I can’t say enough about that.”
Emily McManus and Rebekah Pye scored seven points apiece in the win. Faith Roberts and Maylee Kerns both contributed four points. Kenzie Clifton grabbed 10 rebounds.
Jon’Tiarra Wright paced Edison with 15 points on four 3-pointers. Navdia Wilson added eight. De’Ounce Reed-Fuller scored four points, and Jazmeir Goins had two. The Inventors finish the season with three wins and five losses.
Gates will host Penfield on Wednesday.
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