For the second time in her life, Jill Valley celebrated scoring 1,000 points on Tuesday night.
The former Mahar Regional School guard and 1,000-point scorer poured in a career-high 35 points on Tuesday night and netted her 1,000 collegiate point for Westfield State University during the Owls’ 101-94 win over Eastern Connecticut State in a non-conference women’s basketball game at the Woodward Center in Westfield.
What made the moment even better for the Owls’ senior was having so many fans from her hometown of Orange in attendance.
“It wasn’t the entire population of Orange, but a lot of people came to the game,” she said.
The crowd was treated to a thrilling game that saw the two teams combine to score 195, making it the highest combined total for two teams in Westfield State women’s history.
“It was probably one of the most fun games I had ever played in,” Valley said.
Valley, who is averaging 27 points per game for the Owls (4-1) this season, entered the game needing 11 to hit her milestone. She took care of that quickly, getting her 1,000th point after finishing a quick crossover dribble and drive for a layup with 8 minutes, 51 seconds left in the second quarter.
“I was excited,” said Valley. “But I was more nervous about losing than scoring the 1000 points. I was glad it was over with, because I felt relieved, but I was just having fun the whole game. I wanted to win; that’s all I cared about.”
Valley was far from done. She went on to score a career-best 35 points, which makes it the second-highest individual total in a game in Westfield State history. Only Dorothy Rickus, who scored 42 points in a game in 1974-75, has scored more in one game.
“Jill played so well, and hit so many clutch shots at clutch times for us,” said Westfield State head coach Andrea Bertini. “Big free throws, finishes in the paint, the three-pointer off a screen – she was the run stopper. It seemed like she was always the one hitting a big shot.”
Valley’s career-best in high school was 32 points in a game. She got her 1,000th high school point on Jan. 11, 2013 in a rout of Smith Academy.
Valley was 13-of-22 from the floor, including 2-for-4 from beyond the arc, and 7-of-8 from the foul line. She came close to a triple-double, with seven rebounds, six steals and three assists.
She is the 15th player in Westfield State history to reach 1,000 points, and her 1,024 currently puts her 14th all-time at the school. WSU Hall of Famer Amanda Braden is the Owls’ all-time leader with 1,526 points.
“Jill has been playing tremendous this season,” said Bertini. “She’s the purest scorer I have ever had as a coach, and probably that I played with either. She doesn’t have an offensive weakness to her game – she can shoot, she can drive, she can use either hand, and she’s our best three-point shooter, and it’s because she works so hard on her game.”