J-M girls fall at Brownsville as Gates scores 1,000th point
BROWNSVILLE – Brownsville’s Skyler Gates felt a bit uneasy going into last Friday’s home game against Jefferson-Morgan.
The 6-foot-4 junior center needed 28 points to reach 1,000 for her career and she knew plenty of people were on hand to witness the possible milestone.
“I was kind of nervous,” Gates said. “Everybody was coming to the game. People were driving like three hours to get here. So I was definitely hoping I could do it for everyone.”
That she did, scoring 29 points in Brownsville’s 58-18 non-section girls basketball victory over the Lady Rockets.
Gates tallied eight points in the first quarter, 10 more in the second and accounted for nine of her team’s first 11 points of the third when she was fouled with 4:57 on the clock.
Gates calmly stepped to the line and swished the first free throw for her 1,000th point. After being congratulated by teammates and head coach Patty Columbia, she made the second free throw as well, capping her scoring for the game at 29 points and upping her career total to 1,001.
“I kind of wanted to do it with a 3 or a dunk but a free throw was alright,” Gates said jokingly.
“When the ball went in it was just like so many emotions were happening at once.”
Ava Clark added 16 points for Brownsville (12-8) and Zhariah Reed chipped in with eight points. Gates also had 10 rebounds, three blocked shots and a steal, Lydia Geary grabbed eight rebounds and Ciara Horabik hit a 3-pointer.
“It feels amazing, especially to be able to do it my junior year,” Gates said of reaching 1,000 points. “It’s so awesome. I’m so happy, so excited. I needed 28 but I was confident I could get it because my teammates, we love each other, and I knew they’d be looking for me tonight.”
That was the plan, according to Columbia.
“I was very proud of the girls because they took a very unselfish approach,” Columbia said. “We talked in the locker room before the game and said let’s feed Skyler as much as we can and get the win, and that’s what they did from the very beginning.”
The Lady Falcons scored the first nine points of the game with six from Gates and three from Clark and were never threatened after that. They led 18-7 after the first quarter with Ava Wood accounting for all of the Lady Rockets’ points in the frame, including a 3-pointer.
Brownsville blanked J-M in the second quarter while pouring in 18 for a commanding 36-7 halftime lead. The hosts outscored the Lady Rockets 15-4 in the third quarter to go up 51-11 and both teams put up seven points in the fourth.
Wood’s seven points led Jefferson-Morgan, coached by Rebecca Capozza in her first year with the Lady Rockets. Brelyn Wood added five points with a 3-pointer, Krissa Snyder had four points and Elisa Roberts capped the scoring for the visitors with two points.