GROVE CITY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Catherine Kelly didn’t want to dawdle.
She has bigger goals in mind going forward.
The senior guard on the Moniteau girls basketball team entered the season knowing she only needed 34 points to reach 1,000 in her career. She wanted to get it out of the way as quickly as possible.
Boy, did she.
(Pictured above, Moniteau senior Catherine Kelly poses with her team after scoring her 1,000th career point in a win over Greenville on Saturday/submitted photo)
After scoring 20 points on Friday night against Grove City, Kelly returned to the floor on Saturday night and poured in 29 more — scoring 15 in the first quarter alone against Greenville — to blow past the mark in a 55-43 victory.
“I kind of just wanted it to happen at the beginning of the season so it would be over with and we could focus on getting into the playoffs and winning games to be able to do that,” Kelly said. “I knew it was coming up, but just to get it tonight was awesome, especially getting it with this group of people. It shows that all of our hard work has paid off because I wouldn’t be able to do it without my teammates.”
Kelly needed just 14 coming into the night. She wasted little time, getting off to a torrid start in scoring 15 by the end of one and 19 by halftime.
By the end of the third quarter, she had already scored 27.
She was 11-of-11 from the free throw line.
Sophia Fleeger added 12 points and Kendall Sankey had 10 rebounds and four assists for Moniteau in the win over Greenville.
Reaching 1,000 points has been a big goal for Kelly since her freshman season when she was a starter and played significant minutes.
“I knew it could be something that could happen,” Kelly said.
Kelly also entered the season knowing she needed to step up even more than she has in the past.
Moniteau lost senior forward Davina Pry when she was injured recently during a powderpuff football game, suffering a complete tear of the ACL in her right knee.
Kelly, who never shies away from spending time in the gym honing her game, paid particular attention this offseason on finishing and being more aggressive in trying to score.
“I feel like I’m more ready to take my first open shot,” Kelly said. “A lot of times, I would pass up shots when I would have it open on the perimeter, but now I’m more able to take those and drive to the hoop. I was definitely able to finish through contact more this weekend than I was able to last year.
“I focused a lot on building my strength up (this offseason) so I could get more rebounds and take more contact and still score,” Kelly added. “I feel like that’s something I kind of struggled with last year, but I’ve definitely seen improvements already.”
The 2-0 start to the campaign without Pry, a key piece, has give Kelly and her teammates some early confidence.
“Seeing other girls like Sophia step up — she knew she had some big shoes to fill coming in for Davina — that’s very promising,” Kelly said. “Kendall has played great, too, and that’s awesome because she gets a lot of rebounds for us and that’s definitely something we need with Davina being out.”
Kelly is also playing this season unfettered by the stress of making a college choice.
That has already been made. She will play at Thiel when her days at Moniteau are over.
With that and this milestone in the rearview, Kelly can focus on what is really important to her.
Winning.
“The pressure has been taken off,” Kelly said. “I can just go out and play and be myself and that definitely helps me with my game,” she said. “I think everyone has been stepping up and that’s what we need. I’m really excited for the season.”
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