With Tori Davidson and her 1,649 career points, Northern Freeze will enter the 2012-13 girls high school basketball season with one of the most explosive scorers in Minnesota's Section 8A.
For the Freeze, however, that's not unusual. It's more the norm.
In five of the past six seasons, the Freeze have had at least one player in the lineup during the year that has reached the 1,000-point milestone.
"I wouldn't think that's very common," first-year Freeze coach Sean Spilde said. "We've just had a run of good athletes, good basketball players."
Alycia Dahl was the first in a Freeze girls basketball uniform to reach the milestone, scoring her 1,000th point as a junior in the 2006-07 season -- the third season of the co-op between Marshall County Central and Tri-County high schools.
ADVERTISEMENT
After Dahl graduated in the spring of 2008, the program didn't have a 1,000-pointer in the 2008-09 season, although it was close -- Kinzie Magner reached the 1,000-point mark in mid-December of 2009. Liza Hoglo also scored her 1,000th later that season. Last season, the Freeze had a pair of 1,000-pointers in Hoglo and Davidson, who reached the milestone as a sophomore.
The Freeze have amassed a lot of 1,000-point scorers in recent seasons. But Red Lake County Central's girls basketball team can top that list. The Mustangs are on a run of having a 1,000-point scorer in their lineup in each of the past seven seasons.
Brittany Gustafson finished the 2005-06 season with 1,006 points to start the run of 1,000-pointers. Courtney Halvorson, Faith Kruchowski, Kayla Pelletier, Brianna Spong and current senior Michaela Casavan also have surpassed 1,000 points in the past seven seasons.
Since the Herald started compiling year-end lists of 1,000-point scorers seven seasons ago, here are the programs in other divisions that have had the most seasons with players reaching that milestone:
• North Dakota boys basketball: North Star has had 1,000-point scorers in four of the past seven seasons. Those have all come in the past four seasons, by Tanner Komrosky, Calvin Teubner, Grant Lindahl and current juniors Daniel Grande and Jake Hagler.
• North Dakota girls basketball: Dakota Prairie has had 1,000-point scorers in the lineup in five of the past seven seasons. The group includes Kirstie Gillett, Jenna Gillett, Sabrina Rude and current senior Brandy Messner.
• Minnesota boys basketball: Sharing the high with four seasons each are Warren-Alvarado-Oslo (Evan Mattson, Casey Larson, Danny Mattson and current senior Zach Riopelle) and Fertile-Beltrami (Cory Stevens, Jordan Solie and current senior Tate Mosher).
Several factors contribute
ADVERTISEMENT
To be able to produce 1,000-point scorers on a consistent basis includes a number of factors. There is a bottom line.
"It starts with talent," said Tom Mjelde, the former North Freeze coach. "We've been fortunate to have good athletes and good ballplayers. Those four are above-average athletes and players.
"On every possession, you want kids like that to get at least one or two touches. We designed plays for them. And they're all good shooters. That's one thing they had in common. It's something they all worked on a lot."
Longevity also factors in. At Red Lake County Central, Kruchowski and Casavan were on varsity as eighth-graders. Spong, Gustafson, Halvorson and Pelletier were starters as freshmen.
"We used to have a theory - if a girl is pretty good, we would move them up,'' RLCC coach Rick Koivisto said. "It would give them a chance to face better competition, and they'd get better because of it.
"And it looks like that has become more of a trend nowadays. Kids are spending more time playing in the summer; that's helped them be ready to play earlier. And I imagine (declining school) enrollments have something to do with it.''
Teams such as the Freeze, RLCC and North Star also have consistently made runs deep into the postseason playoffs, giving players more games and more scoring opportunities.
And pace dictates points.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We've played a faster pace," Mjelde said. "We run, play pressure defense, force turnovers and get into transition. That leads to more shots and points. And somebody has to score them."
Davidson on fast pace
Dahl set the bar high for the Freeze. She finished with 1,774 points, some of them coming for Marshall County Central before the co-op was formed.
Magner finished with 1,472 points, then Hoglo graduated with 1,906 last spring. Davidson is on course to be the first to reach 2,000 - a milestone Casavan attained for RLCC this winter. After scoring 468 points this season, Davidson goes into the 2012-13 season with 1,649 points.
"I dreamed about getting 1,000 points when I was younger," Davidson, a 6-foot junior, said. "When I got there, I was speechless. It would be nice to get to 2,000. But it's never something I imagined. If it happens, it happens."
Likewise, North Star will have a pair of 1,000-pointers in the lineup next season when Hagler and Grande return as seniors.
But, Spilde said, "It's tough to keep a streak like that going."
DeVillers reports on sports. Reach him at (701) 780-1128; (800) 477-6572, ext. 128; or send e-mail to gdevillers@gfherald.com .
