Photo by TRAVIS DAVID | Sullivan Senior Jacie Wilson goes up for a bucket in the third quarter Tuesday night against Shakamak. Wilson netted 23 points and surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for her career during the win.

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BY TRAVIS DAVID

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SULLIVAN — Veteran basketball coach Vance Edmondson has always had a soft spot for post players over the years. Coaching Jacie Wilson has been no different.

But after Tuesday night, Wilson may be a little higher up on the list of Edmondson’s favorite players.

The Sullivan senior became the 12th Lady Arrow player to score 1,000 career points in leading her team to a 56-34 win over visiting Shakamak. Wilson is also the first player — male or female athlete — coached by Edmondson to reach the milestone number.

“I have had some big accomplishments in my coaching career, but I had never coached a 1,000-point scorer before,” the Lady Arrows’ coach said, “So that is kind of cool to be a part of, but I am just super happy for her.”

Wilson entered the game 17 points shy of the mark. With just over four minutes left in the third quarter, Wilson controlled a lop into the post from Avari Kelley and tossed her shot in through the net off the glass for her 1,000th and 1,001st career points. The bucket was the sixth straight she had scored for her team in the frame and gave the Arrows a 43-25 advantage.

“This definitely feels nice to do this on my home court,” the soft-spoken Sullivan star said of the accomplishment. “I knew coming into the game I needed 17 points and I missed a few easy shots in the first half and I was getting frustrated.  But my teammates did a great job of finding me there in the third period.”

She also mentioned she is glad it’s over.

Wilson scored 14 of her game-high 23 points in the third period as the hosts turned an 8-point halftime lead into a 24-point cushion heading into the final stanza.

Edmondson stated Wilson took a better approach on the offensive end of the court in the second half which led to her success.

“I thought she did a much better job of getting set at the right angles there in the third,” the Arrows’ coach said. “And she did a much better job at sealing off her defender … we always want to play inside out because of the advantage she gives us in the post and our girls did a great job of finding her down there tonight.”

The Shakamak defense held Wilson to just a pair of buckets and seven points in the first half by taking a physical approach. But the short-handed Lakers didn’t have an answer in the third quarter.

“We were physical with her and did a pretty good job on her overall in the first half,” first-year Lakers’ coach Brock Dowell said of his defense. “But for whatever reason we just decided not to guard her the same in the second half and she made us pay. We let her push us around to get to the position she wanted and when you allow that to happen against a player like her, she is going to kill you.”

A drive by Elayni Stone pulled Shakamak even at 5-apiece midway through the first quarter. But Sullivan guard Katherine Sarver answered back by slicing her way through the Lakers defense for a 7-5 lead. The bucket at the rim sparked a 13-4 run by the Arrows to finish the quarter.

Three pointers by Blanca Hernandez (2) and Aubree Langford (1) as well as a baseline jumper from freshman Ava Landry kept the Lakers within striking distance throughout the first half.

“I liked the pace we were playing at in the first half,” Dowel said of his offense. “We were not settling for quick shots and we were taking care of the basketball for the most part. We were able to get some looks that we wanted, but we just missed some easy shots and you can’t do that against a team like this.”

Stone and Madelyn Kennett paced Shakamak with nine points apiece while Langford and Hernandez hit a pair of 3-pointers for six points apiece. Landry rounded out the scoring with four points.

Shakamak played without two regular starters as senior Chase Hammond continues to recover from an ankle injury and sophomore post player Mattilyn Hill missed her second game, also with an ankle injury.

“We don’t want to use that as an excuse,” Dowel said. “We sure do miss both of them, but we are also getting some younger girls some more playing time which we hope will benefit us later in the year as well.”

Ally McKinney joined Wilson as the only other player to reach double figures with 12 points. The junior guard also matched Kennett for game-honors in rebounds with eight while also dishing out six assists and coming up with four steals.

Sarver added eight points while Kelley splashed in a pair of 3-pointers and pulled down four boards with three assists.

Destiny Gaines (4) and Rigley Goodman (3) rounded out the scoring with seven points.

The loss dropped the Lakers to 4-3 on the season while Sullivan improved to 8-4 with its fourth straight win.

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