Four Jamestown girls reach 1,000-point mark

JAMESTOWN, Mo. - Jamestown High School senior Alli Muri needed only 13 points at the beginning of this year's basketball season to reach a rare achievement among high school athletes - scoring her 1,000th point.

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AP

Kenny Perry holds up his ball after making par on the eighth hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., Friday, April 10, 2009.

The moment in November at the Tipton High School tournament was bittersweet, as she worried her twin sister, Lexi Muri, might not have enough games in the season to also receive the honorary white basketball.

When Lexi was within two points of her 1,000th, Coach E.H. Hirschvogel and Alli agreed Lexi should be pulled from that away game. That set her up perfectly to score the first basket of the Jamestown Homecoming game Feb. 5.

For her 1,000th basket, Lexi made a lay-up assisted by their cousin Mickayla Strother, who also earned her 1,000th point this season for Jamestown at the Stover High School tournament just after Christmas break.

The season came down to the last game of the regular season, at Calvary Lutheran High School Feb. 12, where Mackenzie Strother joined her twin sister and cousins among the elite shooters. Not thinking she had a chance of reaching the mark so late in the season, Mackenzie said she didn't realize she was close until the crowd's reaction when she missed a back-end free throw.

Freshman teammates helped keep the crowd involved with signs as the milestones approached throughout the season.

"This is unique; we're real proud of them," Hirschvogel said.

In his 14 years of coaching, Hirschvogel said he has only heard of one boy reaching 1,000 points. And he speculated the last girl to reach 1,000 was in the late 1990s.

Officials at the Missouri State High School Activities Association, a longtime area sports reporter and area coaches had never heard of such a feat.

"It's good for the kids; it shows a tremendous amount of dedication and commitment to the program," Hirschvogel said.

Nonetheless, at the all-conference coaches' meeting following the season's end, the other coaches applauded the graduation of these four, who had made such a formidable team, Hirschvogel said.

The Strothers and Muris have played competitive basketball together since before fifth grade, when they entered the Jamestown recreation league.

By the time they were freshmen, all four were starters. Going into their fourth varsity season, Hirschvogel said he knew all four had the possibility to reach this paragon.

Mackenzie was the furthest back in points, so when she made her mark was the most satisfying moment for the four of them to all surpass 1,000 points together, they agreed.

But their individual scores do not mean as much to them as the team's success. Hirschvogel added they likely would have been willing to give up their 1,000 points bragging rights for the district win, which escaped them.

That sense of team is part of the reason why all four were able to average 11-16 points a game this season.

"We're hard for other teams to guard us because we have weapons at any corner," Hirshvogel said.

No team played them with a man-to-man defense, Lexi said. Hirschvogel added these four also were great ball handlers, as well as scorers.

The twin-cousins also were quick to point out they needed each other and the other members of the team, including the fifth senior-starter Emily Scheperle.

"It was more than just us four," Mackenzie said. "We needed assists and rebounds. We were the one putting it in the basket, but it was a team accomplishment, too.

Hirschvogel added, "Not one of those girls could have done what they did without the others. The points were a byproduct of a successful and unselfish team."

The Jamestown girls basketball team ended the season with a 23-4 record, which also could be a school record, Hirschvogel said.

"This senior year it culminated for them; their confidence level was at an all-time high," he said. "They knew how each other played, were unselfish and were all about the "W,'" he said.