SHANKSVILLE —
Kayla Stockenus netted her 2,000th point in double-grand fashion on Tuesday night. The Shanksville senior guard grabbed a defensive rebound and drove the length of the court with multiple Windber defenders chasing her.
As she has done so often throughout her career, Stockenus worked her way to the glass and put in a basket before being fouled. The field goal at 6:20 of the fourth quarter gave Stockenus 20 for the game and exactly 2,000 for her career.
She completed the conventional three-point play with a free throw to become only the second girls player in Somerset County history and third in The Tribune-Democrat’s current coverage area to surpass the 2,000-point milestone.
“When I got that rebound and saw the open court I thought, ‘This is my chance. I don’t want to screw this up,’ ” an excited Stockenus said while addressing a small group of newspaper and TV reporters after the game. “Then everyone started cheering and I was like, ‘All right, now I really have to do it.’ Then I was lucky enough and got the and-one (free throw).”
Windber won the one-sided contest 69-37 with a balanced scoring effort and stingy defense.
The Ramblers are 11-10 after opening the season at 4-7.
The night, however, belonged to Stockenus, who was honored after making the milestone basket during a brief stoppage in play. Her parents and coach Corey Nau posed for photographs with the athletic guard.
After the game friends and family shared hugs and showed their support of Stockenus with posters and special T-shirts.
She joined Meyersdale graduate and former UPJ star Jen Tuscano (2,236 points, 1991-95) as Somerset County girls 2,000-point scorers.
Conemaugh Valley and Duquense University star Samantha Pollino (2,316 points) is the other area girl to hit the 2,000 mark.
“She’s incredible,” Nau said. “There’s no other word for it. She puts in the effort. She deserves to be the first 2,000-point scorer for females (at Shanksville).”
Stockenus finished with 27 points and now has 2,007 career points.
Windber coach Cory Pavlosky credited Stockenus for her ability to tally points against a tough Ramblers defensive effort that had two, and sometimes three players on her.
“We did have a plan. She’s a great player. Kayla deserves that honor,” Pavolsky said.
“She works hard. You could see during the game, even though it was that close – 20 points is close for her – she was very unselfish. She was still passing the ball to the girls. That shows a team player. That shows it really wasn’t about 2,000.
“She did what she had to. We had a plan. It didn’t work. That’s how good she is.”
Stockenus had six first-quarter points and seven in the second quarter.
All of the points came after drives to the basket with the exception of a short jumper in the second quarter.
But perhaps feeling the weight of the milestone, she missed her first four field goal attempts of the third quarter and had only three points, 16 for the game entering the fourth.
She drove end to end to score her 18th point, and duplicated the feat for the milestone. She added seven points in the final 6:20.
“I remember thinking about this when I was in ninth grade,” Stockenus said. “It was in the back of my mind. I remember this one girl got it and I thought that would be really awesome. That’s what I worked towards.”
Stockenus also is a standout in volleyball and softball. She said she’s considering playing basketball at Frostburg or St. Vincent – each program had representatives at Tuesday’s game – or volleyball at Pitt-Greensburg.
“I can’t even belive it,” Stockenus said. “I knew I had a shot at the (Shanksville) record this year but 2,000 wasn’t in my mind. Once I broke the record and had seven or eight games left, and I thought, ‘This is actually real. It could happen.’”
Stockenus broke the Shanksville girls scoring record on Jan. 14. In less than a month since then she’s amassed more than 200 points.
“That lifted a lot of pressure off of me,” Stockenus said of the school record set against Shade. “Once I got that record I felt like I could just play ball.”
Windber used 16 players and had points from nine of those, including a team-high 17 from Kortney Lampel and 12 from Kaitlyn Weaver. Lampel had nine rebounds.
“A lot of freshmen are getting some reps, some sophomores and some younger girls,” Pavlosky said. “Even our seniors are young and inexperienced. Our first 11 games we were 4-7. Now we’re 7-3 in the back (10). We want balanced scoring. It’s working for us.”
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Shanksville-Stonycreek senior Kayla Stockenus takes a shot on Tuesday during a game against Windber at Shanksville. She scored the 2,000th point of her high school career during the game, a 69-37 loss to the Ramblers. George Lucas Photo
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Shanksville player gets 2,000th point in loss to Windber
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