Girls Basketball: Callie Johnson records 1,00th point as St Edward tops Aurora Christian

Updated: January 10, 2012 10:25PM

Please excuse St. Edward senior Callie Johnson if she seemed a bit distracted in Tuesday’s game against Aurora Christian.

Her 5-for-14 shooting from the field and uncharacteristic turnovers would attest to that.

But with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter of the Green Wave’s 51-37 win, it all came clear. Her pull-up jumper in the lane gave her 1,000 career points.

“Relief,” Johnson said of that shot. “A weight came off my shoulders. I felt free of it all. The whole game, I was stressed out. I don’t know how many turnovers I had trying to force things. I appreciate my teammates trying to get me the ball. It’s an honor for me to be able to do this.”

She is the ninth St. Edward player to reach that milestone, joining her teammate Madeline Kerr on that list. Kerr hit the milestone at the Lisle tournament. They are the first set of teammates in school history to reach 1,000 career points in the same season.

“It’s a special night for Callie tonight,” St. Edward coach Michelle Dawson said. “Not many girls reach that point in their high school career. It’s something special. To have two people on the same team reach it together, that’s kind of a special thing for them. It’s a tribute to how hard she’s worked and the amount of time and effort she’s put into her game. She’s an incredible athlete.”

St. Edward (14-5) was all business early on, building an 18-8 lead early in the second quarter and playing a turnover-free first quarter. As it turned out, that lead wound up being the difference in the game. The St. Edward lead never reached more than 15 points, and Aurora Christian (7-11) cut it to seven early in the third quarter.

“We had a rough couple of games, so this game we just wanted to come out on a good note and forget about the past couple of games and play our actual game,” Johnson said. “We just wanted to get rid of the bad rut we were in.”

Johnson and Kerr each scored 14 points in the win for the Green Wave.

Aurora Christian hung around after the first quarter. Alyssa Andersen led the Eagles with 12 points, Mackenzie Bollinger scored 11 and Alyssa Henzel posted a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) in the loss.

“We’re young and still inexperienced,” Aurora Christian coach Jerry Tokars said. “I thought the girls did a great job effort-wise. We hung around. The kids battled. If we put forth this effort against Immaculate Conception, which was a one-point loss, we would have won that game.”

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