By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Nine points shy of a career milestone, Northstar’s Christian’s Alayna Garwood needed little more than 12 minutes of game time to reach the mark.
The senior forward converted a free throw with 3:59 remaining in the second quarter to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career.
“Obviously, basketball is a team sport, but it’s nice to have an individual accomplishment like this,” Garwood said after host Northstar Christian defeated Young Women’s College Prep (YWCP), 53-50. “I was definitely more nervous coming into this game just because I knew I only needed nine. It should be easy, but it definitely did get to me in the beginning.”
Garwood connected on a free throw for her first point of the night. She later hit a catch-and-shoot three from the left wing before following with another from the charity stripe. A right corner three pulled her within one of the milestone.
She drew contact driving to the basket, went to the line and calmly sank her first attempt.
“You know it’s ironic because I’m not known for making my free throws, so that was a little bit weird that that’s how it ended up happening. Just played it as the ball flows. Whatever happens, happens. I wasn’t looking for anything fancy just to get it done.”
Alayna Garwood is congratulated by her dad/Northstar Athletic Director JJ Garwood after sinking a free throw for the 1,000th point of her career. @SecVGBasketball pic.twitter.com/oHdXnfSGGY
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 17, 2023
Garwood joins former Knights Annabelle Hinds (1,469) points), Mary Roberts (1,226) and Taylor Harris (1,107) on the program’s 1,000-point club.
“I’m definitely excited to join that group.”
She also continued a family tradition that started with her dad, JJ, who scored 1,180 points during his career at Keshequa (1991-95). Her older brother, Ryan, finished with 2,044 points during his career at Northstar.
Reaching that plateau has been a focus since practices started for this season.
“I definitely had a countdown going. Countdown has been right from the start of the season. It feels great especially with my dad doing it and then obviously, my brother.”
Though she does like to clarify the disparity in point total between her brother and herself.
“He got an extra year, so it doesn’t count,” she said with a smile referring to Ryan’s eighth-grade season on varsity.
Garwood finished with a game-high 25 points to lead Northstar (8-4) to its second win in four games. She scored 14 in the first half as Northstar grabbed a double-digit lead at 29-18. She scored six more points in the fourth quarter after YWCP rallied to take a 46-45 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the contest.
Steal and finish: Alayna Garwood. Northstar Christian is on 9-3 run, leads 22-14. pic.twitter.com/TeBcwlqXsm
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 17, 2023
Teammate Abby Eschner added 10 points. Jayla Favor and Alysse Wesp had six apiece. Aileen Murphy (4) and Elsie Oechsie (2) also scored in the win.
Jahzell Strong paced the YWCP offense with 22 points including three 3-pointers in the second half. Catera Wallace scored back-to-back layups to give the Griffins their first lead since 7-5 midway through the first quarter. Erica Coley and Alyssa Jeanty contributed 10 points apiece. Bre’Ay’zha White and Amari Caruthers both had two points for YWCP (3-8).
Leave a Reply