Kallie Booth let teammates take care of the points for much of the night while making other contributions before reaching a personal milestone for scoring.
Booth, the Pittston Area senior and reigning Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 girls basketball Player of the Year, joined the 1,000-Point Club early in Thursday night’s 45-24 victory at Dallas.
A drive to the basket out of a half-court set early in the fourth quarter got Booth to the mark. She entered the night needing six points to reach the milestone and wound up scoring eight.
“It didn’t come easy tonight because they did a good job on our two guards,” Pittston Area coach Jeff Gregory said. “What made me most proud of her tonight is that she stayed within herself. She stayed in the flow of the game.
“She didn’t get impatient. We got a little help from the other girls and she kept us in check, led us through the first three quarters and let the game come to her.”
Booth was aware of the impending milestone, but did not want to let it get in the way of defending champion Pittston Area’s hold on first place in the division or on the only unbeaten record, boys or girls, in District 2 basketball.
“I knew I was six away, but I knew I still had to play the game,” Booth said. “I wasn’t worried about scoring the points. I was just worried about winning.”
One drive to the basket earlier in the fourth quarter, rolled out, but Booth came right back with a similar move to get to 1,000.
“I was just trying to get our other guards and our other people that weren’t getting face-guarded to score,” she said. “I was just playing my game, very hard defense, just putting everything in for the team that I could. I knew they would open us up.”
Sophomore Daniella Ranieli, the team’s other all-star guard, led a balanced attack with 12 points.
Maddie Karp and Ava Callahan scored 10 points each.
Karp had the only points as Pittston Area led 5-2 after one quarter.
Booth was scoreless at halftime, but five second-quarter points by Callahan kept the Lady Patriots in front, 15-13.
Karp had five more points in the third quarter when Booth got her first five by going 5-for-6 from the line. Karp, Ranieli and Callahan all hit 3-pointers in the quarter as Pittston Area established a 34-23 lead.
The free throws sent Booth into the fourth quarter with 999 points and she went past 1,000 with the layup.
Molly Walsh led Dallas with 10 points.
