NORTHAMPTON — Stephanie Start hoisted her first attempt at 1,000 career points from the left corner behind the 3-point line.
The shot hit the back iron then bounced off the backboard. She’d have to wait a little longer. The pressure built a bit more.
“Especially everyone coming up to me going, ‘it’s your big day,’” Start said.
Start had 998 career points at that juncture and had previously made a 3 and a layup. She started the game with an offensive rebound and a putback, but missed the free throw chance after being fouled.
Smith Vocational gave her the ball early, often and at every opportunity against Westfield Tech on Monday night. The Vikings wanted her to become the first girl in school history to reach the quadruple-digit milestone.
“They look for her all year long, for the last three years,” Smith Voke coach John Gagnon said.
After Start’s first attempt to reach 1,000 points hit the backboard, Sydney Cyr leapt into the lane for the offensive rebound. She looked up and fired a pass to Start, who had moved a step inside the 3-point line on the left wing.
“We knew we had to get it to her,” Cyr said. “I looked for her, and I knew before I went up to get the ball.”
Start rose up and unleashed her high-arcing jump shot, left elbow angled away from her guide hand. The ball kissed off the back of the rim and dropped through the net with 4 minutes, 31 seconds remaining in the first quarter and put the Vikings up 12.
“A lot of stress came off when I got it,” Start said.
Start was given three points for the shot in the official scorebook and on the scoreboard even though she released it from inside the 3-point line. While the referee never gave the signal for a 3, the shot gave her 1,001 career points. It would have still given her 1,000 if it was counted as a 2.
She is the first girl in school history to score 1,000 career points and fourth player overall to reach the milestone. Jonathan Marti was the last to join the club in 2007.
There was no stress as to the game’s outcome. Smith Voke won 38-13 as the Vikings played most of the game with their starting five on the bench.
“Some of them didn’t want to play. I says, ‘well you’re going to have to play’ because I can’t play the starting five the whole game,” Gagnon said. “We get a 20-point lead and everybody will play.”
The Vikings (6-7) led by 20 for the first time at 25-5 with 5:35 left in the third quarter.
Haley McDonald showed her range in the fourth quarter. She made three 3s in the final frame and finished with 11 points, second on the team to Start’s 14.
“They had fun. You could see it in the game,” Gagnon said.
Even the coach participated in the shenanigans.
During one of the Vikings’ rare second-half periods with their starters on the floor, Cyr was fouled and went to the line. She missed the rim on the free throw. He turned to his bench and counted down “three, two, one.”
The entire bench screamed “Airball!” and Cyr covered her face with laughter.
No pressure at all.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.