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F uller’s 1,000 female first for Horde
It took just a split second — just the tiniest of lapses by a Greenwich defender Friday night and Emily Fuller was in the record book.
Needing just one point to reach 1,000 career points about half way through the second quarter of the final regular season game for the Golden Horde, Fuller split the defense and flipped up a shot toward the net.
The ball wobbled on the rim for just long enough to get the attention of everyone in the room before falling in to make history.
With that two points Fuller became the first female in Granville High School history to reach the scoring milestone and just the third overall, ever.
“It would have been good at home, but this is perfectly fine. I got it out of the way,” Fuller said.
“It’s just a relief; it was like a block was just lifted off my shoulders because it was like ‘I’m there,’” Fuller said, the relief showing in her face.
Although she said she felt some pressure as the mark came closer and closer, Fuller said she was also bolstered by the amount of support and interest she saw from fellow students.
“Walking in school, everyone was saying, ‘good luck,’ ‘how many are you away?’, always asking about it so that was really cool to know people were thinking about me and actually keeping up with what’s going on with girls basketball,” Fuller said.
A crew of friends and family members made the trek to Greenwich Friday night to be there for the proud moment.
This milestone was no surprise and is something Fuller said she has worked toward since her second season of varsity basketball.
She came away from her eighth grade season with 99 points. Missing one mark started a quest to reach another.
Initially, the player who described herself as “timid” at the time said she didn’t think 1,000 points was possible.
A little frightened playing at the varsity level, Fuller said it was Coach Lance Jordan, who also started with the girls varsity that year who began to help her work on her game. Jordan also focused her on setting season and overall goals for the years ahead, she said. “It was a big night for her; it was pretty special,” Jordan said afterward.
“I’ve been counting down the whole season. I knew that I needed 333 to finish the season with in order to get to 1,000 so it was kind of progressive. I knew I had to average at least 19 a game,” Fuller said Friday night.
Fuller finished the night with 1,011 points, scoring 18 on the night.
“I think it’s really cool because there’s been a few boys to do it but to be the first girl is a big thing and hopefully people will remember it and maybe it’ll push younger girls to try harder and get there, too,” Fuller said. “I don’t want to be the only one.”
As a junior Fuller said she’s excited about the possibility of running the mark even higher with her senior season coming next year.
Most recently boys basketball standout and now coach at Fonda, Eric Wilson, reached the career milestone at Granville.
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