CHARLOTTESVILLE — After a 15-2 second quarter run gave Eastern Hancock’s girls basketball team a 20-point halftime lead there wasn’t much left to be determined in Tuesday night’s home game against New Castle.
There was only one question remaining.
Will Grace Stapleton join the 1,000-point club?
With a pair of 3-pointers, Stapleton started the game-deciding second-quarter run. And, she finished the contest with a game-high 31 points, eclipsing the 1,000-point mark for her career by hitting the first of two free throws with 15 seconds left in the game.
She hit the second, too, scoring the final points in the Royals 69-41 victory in front of the home crowd.
It was the Royals sixth straight win. They are 15-3 on the season. New Castle dropped to 0-17.
“I thought I needed a 3,” Stapleton said of trying to join the elite scoring club.
She admitted forcing a lot of long range shots, but after a timeout, coach Shari Doud let her know she was just one point away, not three.
“That’s when I started dribbling around more and trying to draw a foul. I knew I could hit a free throw to get it,” She said.
Stapleton is one of only four players in school history to go over 1,000 points. She watched Emiley Carlton (a 2017 grad) join the club.
“It means a lot. There were only three people before me and I got to watch Emiley Carlton growing up and just two before her,” Stapleton said.
The senior guard also became the program’s single-season record holder for 3-pointers. She hit seven on Tuesday to give her 62 for the season. In 2018-19, Jocelyn Duncan hit 61.
Doud said it was important to get the mark at home and also put it in the rear-view mirror as the team closes out the rest of the regular season.
“We wanted to get this done at home. It was really convenient she was hitting shots early in the game,” Doud said. “We knew what was on the line toward the end of the game. We were pressuring her to get it, get it done. She got it done at the free-throw line. We just wanted to make sure this happened at home.”
Stapleton had 20 first-half points. Five of her 3’s were in the first half. Her record setting 62nd gave her 29 points on the night.
“I felt like throughout the game she played like it was any other game,” Doud said. “Along with her ability to score, she set people up for shots. She scored her 1,000th point in a game where she also shared the ball.”
Guard Sammie Bolding added 16 points, eight in each half. She hit three 3-pointers. Post player Ruby White scored 13. Emma Hart had 21 for the Trojans.
The Royals travel to Waldron Saturday.
Eastern Hancock 69, New Castle 41
New Castle;8;7;14;12;—;41
Eastern Hancock;14;21;19;15;—;69
New Castle (0-17): Kenzie Clark 1 0-0 3, Jayci Reeves 1 2-2 4, Ava Stearns 1 4-4 6, Chloe Vaughn 1 2-3 5, Emma Hart 7 3-5 21, Arey McTier 1 0-0 2, Kattie Mathews 0 0-1 0, Anna Tyner 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 11-15 41.
Eastern Hancock (15-3): Emma Bolding 2 0-2 4, Makenzie O’Neal 1 1-4 3, Ruby White 4 5-7 13, Sammie Bolding 5 3-4 16, Grace Stapleton 8 8-9 31, Brooklyn Willis 1 0-0 2, Sydney Springman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 17-26 69.
3-point goals: New Castle 6 (Hart 4, Clark, Vaughn); Eastern Hancock 10 (Stapleton 7, Bolding 3)
