HOULTON, Maine – Scoring 1,000 points in basketball is often considered a benchmark achievement for high school athletes, with many striving to achieve this goal.
In the course of just six days, three high school athletes from southern Aroostook County etched their names into the record books for their respective schools, by reaching this coveted milestone.
Hodgdon junior Anna Oliver scored her 1,000th point in a Dec. 13 road game at Washburn; Katahdin senior Hunter Hartsgrove reached her scoring mark Dec. 16 at home against Van Buren; and Southern Aroostook senior Dylan Burpee joined the 1,000-point club Dec. 19 in a home game against Hodgdon.
Oliver, a talented, do-it-all player, is believed to be the first member of the Class of 2025, either male or female, to reach the 1,000-point mark, according to her father, Matt Oliver.
During the Dec. 13 contest, Oliver was 46 points away from reaching her 1,000th career point. She crossed that threshold by sinking a free throw late in a 71-17 victory over Washburn.
Oliver said she knew she was close to reaching the coveted scoring mark and was thankful for the efforts of her teammates in helping her reach that goal. “I wasn’t nervous at all going into the game because I knew it was going to happen eventually,” she said. “I’m very thankful that the last 46 were all scored at once (in a single game), and how my teammates really helped me to find shots and score. I felt that I was surrounded by a true community in that moment where everyone was supportive of me accomplishing this personal feat.”
Matt Day, who is embarking on his first season as coach of the Hodgdon girls, said even though he has only worked with her for a short time, Oliver’s passion for basketball has been infectious.
“Her work ethic is something unlike anyone around,” he said. “She will stay after practices and shoot for an hour or more. She’s always in the gym. During games, she’s the go-to person to make a shot to keep us in the game.”
He added while Oliver’s form and technique are textbook, he is more impressed with how great a teammate she is for the others on the squad. “She’s always the first one to congratulate someone for their success,” he said. “She has been mentoring some of the younger players and showing them different things with the game. She’s always talking about basketball and different options we can use throughout the games with what talent and options we have.
“She’s very kind, but also has a drive that I’ve never seen before,” Day added. “She wants to win.”
Scoring 1,000 or more points has become a family tradition for the Oliver family. Walker Oliver, a 2023 graduate, scored his 1,000th point during his senior season and also set the unofficial state schoolboy standard for points in a game when he scored 64 points in a game in 2022.
Oliver’s father holds the Hodgdon High School record for points scored with 2,069 set back in 1987.
“I love the satisfaction that comes from hard work and persistence,” Anna Oliver said. “Basketball is a challenging sport that requires great physical and mental strength. It has taught me many invaluable lessons that will serve me in the future.”
Hartsgrove joins 1,000-point club
Hartsgrove, a four-year varsity player for Katahdin Coach Shaun McAvoy, is the first schoolgirl athlete to reach the coveted milestone at KHS since the 1980s. Hartsgrove helped lead the Cougars to a 67-11 victory over Van Buren in front of her home crowd.
She needed 32 points to reach the milestone and accomplished that task with a pull-up jump shot.
“I was actually very nervous the day that I scored my 1,000th point,” Hartsgrove said. “ I had a lot of people who came to support me and watch me reach this milestone. I still had 32 points left, so there was definitely some pressure on me. Fortunately, it worked out perfectly and I was able to score it in front of everyone and celebrate with them after.”
Reaching the milestone has been on Hartsgrove’s mind ever since she began her varsity career as a freshman.
“I have kept track of my points every game since my high school career has started,” she said. “Scoring my 1000th point has been a goal of mine ever since I saw my older cousin, Zach Hartsgrove, score his 1,000th point at Nokomis. I can’t remember a time where I ever doubted this goal, I knew it was something I wanted to accomplish and nothing was going to stop me from reaching it.”
Coach McAvoy said he was not at all surprised by Hartsgrove’s success.
“Hunter has always been coachable and anxious to learn and improve her skills,” he said. “Her dedication to her goals and the game of basketball have impressed me. You will find very few young girls willing to put in the time and hard work that Hunter has over her high school career. Hunter is always first to practice, shows up for a 6 a.m. weight class, and then would do early soccer practice, and be shooting foul shots in the gym after that.”
An all-around athlete, Hartsgrove has made McAvoy’s job that much easier. “Hunter is a leader and a serious competitor, but she does it all with grace and humility,” he said. “Her quiet strength and the encouragement she always gives to her teammates will serve her well in her College career. I have been privileged and blessed to be her coach.”
“There really isn’t anything that I don’t love about basketball,” she said. “I love pushing myself to be better every single time I step on the court. I love the 24/7 grind, even when it hurts. I love that even when my shot isn’t falling, I know that I can always go back to the gym and get more shots up.”
She added that whenever she finds herself getting winded, or experiences a bad day on the court, it pushes her to work even harder.
“Basketball is more than a game to me,” she said. “It’s my whole life.”
Burpee follows family tradition
Burpee scored his 1,000th point Dec. 19 in a 54-47 home win over Hodgdon when he tallied 21 points to lead all players. The talented 6-foot, 4-inch forward needed 16 points prior to tip off and accumulated 14 of those points by halftime.
(Courtesy of Joseph Cyr)
Burpee was low-key about reaching the milestone, stating he was unaware of how many points he needed coming into that contest.
“I was just hoping we would get the win,” Burpee said. “We have a lot of young guys who didn’t play as much last year, so I knew we would have to have a total team effort to be successful this year. We are getting more and more confident and getting better with every game.”
Burpee’s older brother Hunter scored his 1,000th point for Southern Aroostook two years ago, so there was a bit of a sibling rivalry as Dylan neared the milestone. “It was always something that we thought would be pretty neat if we could both do it,” Dylan said. “I just come out and play my hardest every game – and so did he.”
As the focal point of the Warriors this season, Burpee has risen to the occasion thus far.
“Dylan works tirelessly to be better,” SA Coach Brett Russell said. “What I am most proud of is how he has become a real team leader. He has matured so much and helps all the younger guys whenever he can.
“Dylan is our glue. He gets the most rebounds, points and assists,” the coach added.
Russell said he was not at all surprised that three southern Aroostook basketball players had reached the coveted scoring mark within the past week. “It just goes to show you the dedication that these kids have for the sport,” he said.
