Crusaders players reach scoring milestone

Even though the varsity basketball program at Huntersville’s Christ the King Catholic High School is only 3 years old, it’s reached an important milestone – not once, but twice.

Two players in the Crusaders’ basketball program – one from the boys’ team, the other from the girls’ squad – recently passed the 1,000-point mark in career scoring.

Senior Catherine Strickland, a 5-foot-9 guard/forward, scored her 1,000th point in the middle of a 20-point game against Greenville (S.C.) Southside on Dec. 29 at the Wells Fargo WNC Holiday Classic tournament in Asheville.

A month earlier, junior Brian Stanley, a 6-1 guard, reached the 1,000-point mark in a game against Charlotte’s Carmel Christian on Nov. 24.

“I’m not surprised at all,” said Christ the King girls’ basketball coach Kileen Scholl. “Just their work ethic, their focus, for both of them is extremely rare.”

Crusaders boys’ basketball coach and school athletics director Albert Perkins said: “When I first started coaching Brian, the first day of practice, I knew he had a gift of being able to score the basketball.

“Once some of the games started going more and more, I knew he was going to be a high point producer. He works extremely hard. You think of a kid having a good motor, that’s Brian Stanley, because he scores over guys who are 5 to 7 inches taller than him.”

While Stanley said he wasn’t aware that he was closing in on the 1,000-point mark, Strickland said she was aware the milestone was coming up.

“Oh yeah, I knew,” Strickland said. “My dad (Wes Strickland) is an assistant coach, and he’s been on top of it.

“I had a game where I ended with 998 (points), so he was like ‘next game, you go in, that first shot you make, that’s your 1,000th point.’ Of course, it was free throws, so I had to make them both. But I did, so it all worked out.”

And both are in position to score a lot more.

Strickland has 1,096 career points heading into Christ the King’s game against Kernersville’s Forest Trail Academy on Jan. 19.With seven games remaining, plus the Southern Piedmont Athletic Association tournament and the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA) 2A state tournament, Strickland could finish near or above 1,300 career points.

Stanley has just over 1,200 points with the regular-season and postseason games left, meaning he could finish the season at or above 1,400 points. And with one more season to go, he could get close to another milestone – 2,000 career points.

“Our school is so new, I’ve kinda had that mindset – everything I do is a first,” Strickland said. “I keep thinking about that, but that’s one of the privileges we get from coming to a new school: We’re building a new program.”

While future players may reach – or even exceed – their career scoring numbers, Stanley said there’s a certain satisfaction with being the first.

“Especially if I was to come back here in a few years – maybe 10 years or so,” Stanley said. “I could look at that and be proud of that, that you’ve left a mark.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 9:50 AM with the headline "Crusaders players reach scoring milestone."