Durbin scores 1,000th point as Lady Pioneers keep rolling
West Greene senior Anna Durbin holds a sign noting her accomplishment during Tuesday night’s game against Jefferson-Morgan. Durbin scored 17 points, including the 1,000th of her career, in the Lady Pioneers’ 61-9 win. (Submitted photo)
Submitted photo
Submitted photo
West Greene’s Anna Durbin (5) puts up a shot against Jefferson-Morgan during Tuesday night’s game at West Greene. Durbin missed the shot but got the rebound and put it in for her 1,000th career point.
Submitted photo
West Greene’s girls basketball team continued its tradition of cookie cakes on Tuesday’s Senior Night.
Section championships and 1,000-point scorers seem to be the norm for West Greene’s girls basketball program under coach Jordan Watson.
The Lady Pioneers got both Tuesday night in their 61-9 Section 2-A victory over visiting Jefferson-Morgan.
Anna Durbin scored a game-high 17 points, including the 1,000th of her career, as West Greene clinched a least a share of its sixth consecutive section title.
Brooke Barner added 14 points for the Lady Pioneers (8-0, 16-3) who ran their section winning streak to 63 games.
“It’s been a nice run for us,” Watson said. “It’s been fun. Hopefully, our fans don’t take this all for granted because it’s not always going to be like this. We’ve been blessed to coach a lot of girls who play really hard and some of them scored a lot of points, obviously.”
Durbin is the sixth Lady Pioneer to score 1,000 points in the last nine years under Watson, following Madison Raber, McKenna Lampe, Madison Lampe, Kaitlyn Rizor and Jersey Wise.
Durbin, now at 1,010, entered the game needed seven points for 1,000 and got that with 4:41 left in the first quarter on a put-back of her own missed shot.
“Anna has been consistent all year,” Watson said. “She had a stretch where she scored over 20 points for six straight games.
“What makes her tough to guard against is she can score at every level whether it’s shoot the 3-ball, or a mid-range shot or driving to the hoop. She’s also a great passer.”
Watson commended his senior leading scorer for her work ethic.
“Anna has really put a lot of time into it,” he said. “She plays on travel teams in the summer and does individual workouts. She definitely deserves it.”
Savannah Clark led the Lady Rockets (1-7, 1-16) with three points.
West Greene had a chance to wrap up sole possession of first place with a win at Mapletown Wednesday night. The Lady Pioneers close out their regular season with a section home game against Avella on Thursday.
“We sort of know, like in the past six seasons, we’re going to be judged on how we do in the postseason,” said Watson, whose team has played in the past four WPIAL Class A finals. “But the first step in getting there is to finish in first place and go undefeated in our section.
“We know if we do that we should get a nice seed for the playoffs and that can put us in position to make another run at a WPIAL title and then maybe the state playoffs.”