When points 1,000 and 1,001 finally fell through the net on a baseline drive with 1 minute, 40 seconds left in the game, Wetz hugged teammate Amanda Crowley. Before long, "the whole school was there on the court," first-year coach John Novarina estimated.
"It was so surreal," Wetz said of the celebration that followed, when she was mobbed near the basket and was greeted by her parents for an impromptu photo session. "I can't even remember it. I felt after that game like I just ran 10 miles."
From the stands, Pauley witnessed a game strangely reminiscent of one that took place in the same gym four years earlier. Like Wetz, Megan Pauley lost her usually reliable shooting touch as the milestone neared and teammates kept feeding her the ball.
"It really felt the same because they both struggled to get that last point," the elder Pauley said. "And you're sitting there and you're feeling their pain and anxiety."
Novarina had seen the 1,000-point mark achieved twice before during his six years as a Springside assistant, but never in an atmosphere quite like Thursday's.
"The game really came down to trying to get that one point for her," he said of his team's 54-33 loss to Notre Dame. "There was so much energy in that gym."
A 26-point outburst in a 51-38 win over Baldwin the next day raised Wetz's season scoring average to 12.9 and her career total to 1,027.
Novarina praised the guard's extraordinary determination in building herself into a scorer despite being "five-foot-nothing." Wetz has won every single sprint at practice this season, according to her coach.
She is drawing recruiting interest from Ursinus and Franklin & Marshall, where Pauley has posted 841 points over the last four years after finishing with 1,032 during her high school career.
Overtime upset. During the two days leading up to St. Basil's rematch with Mount St. Joseph after a 50-21 drubbing in December, coach Terry Mancini tried to hammer home one message to his team.
