Geneva’s Santos scores 1,00th career point
Geneva’s 1,000-point club is getting crowded this year.
Senior Kat Yelle reached the milestone when she scored her 1,000th career point against Elgin on Dec. 10, and teammate Ashley Santos joined her Thursday.
“It means a lot because it has been a goal of mine probably since elementary school first watching high school basketball,” Santos said. “It’s been one of those things that has been in the back of my mind for a long time.”
Santos finished with a game-high 16 points in a 51-33 win over St. Charles North.
The 6-foot junior guard needed 9 points Thursday to reach 1,000. She nearly had it on a long jumper in the third quarter that was just inside the 3-point arc.
A minute later, Santos grabbed an offensive rebound and scored inside to give her 1,001 career points. At the next dead-ball, Geneva public announcer Matt Hahn told the crowd. Players on both Geneva and St. Charles North cheered for Santos.
“None of us really knew she was coming up,” Geneva senior Sammy Scofield said. “I’m always proud to have a teammate have so much success. It’s fun playing with her, she does some tricky stuff you wouldn’t even imagine someone to do. She’s a great player and I’m happy for her.”
Santos started her career at Bartlett and scored 372 points as a freshman. She had 309 in her first year at Geneva last season and now has 326 this season.
“I’ve gotten acclimated to Geneva and everything so well that it finally feels like it’s my school and everything,” Santos said. “Being on the court with them makes it seem like home.”
Scofield said she’s seen Santos’ improvement this year not just in the jump in scoring average.
“She’s grown up as a player,” Scofield said. “I think sophomore to junior year is a big jump. She’s a lot more comfortable with us this year because she’s played with us, she trusts us more and we know what each other is doing. Our chemistry is better and of course she has improved a lot. I know she worked a lot over the summer.”
Santos didn’t play Tuesday night in a loss to Fenwick after coming down ill Monday and Tuesday. Her play this year following an impressive AAU season is attracting a lot of college interest. Marquette and Colorado coaches were at Thursday’s game.
“It’s just a tribute to her and the career she has,” Geneva coach Gina Nolan said. “I feel pretty confident she will get 1,000 at Geneva alone by the time she graduates. She didn’t quite have her 100 percent energy so I tried to sub her, she was a little winded but she didn’t play like she was sick. She played strong and that’s great to have her back in the mix.”