With the second three point shot against Armwood, Ava Godfrey (’25) cemented herself in Robinson Basketball history. With the shot, she reached a milestone rarely seen in high school basketball; 1000 career points. This comes as a result of her impressive point scoring abilities, with Godfrey repeatedly scoring over 300 points in a season, helping her reach the 1000-point threshold.
“It shows the hard work she’s put in over the years and her consistency as a player to reach this goal,” Head Girls Basketball Coach Gerard Batista said. “There’s a limited list of players in county history who have scored a thousand points.”
This achievement serves to further separate Godfrey, who has consistently been one of the assist leaders on the Robinson team. In fact, last season Godfrey was in the top three for assists in the state along with scoring 308 points, demonstrating the dual threat she brings to the team.
Aside from just being an impressive statistic for Godfrey, this achievement may have more significant impacts upon the team as a whole.
“Ava getting 1000 points was a really cool experience for all of us,” guard on the girls’ team, Annie Keith (’27) said. “It showed us how hard she has worked and also makes the rest of the team want to do better.”
Reaching 1000 points is almost the pinnacle of individual success and may often seem unreachable for many players. However, with Godfrey reaching the historic milestone, it proves to other players that it is achievable, giving many players a goal to work towards, and motivation to improve their game.
One of the main reasons that many players view the achievement as unreachable is due to the sheer difficulty of scoring 1000 points in just four years, especially with players often not receiving as much playing-time in their freshmen season.
“When I first started playing, I really hoped I [would reach 1000 points], but I didn’t actually think I’d get there” Godfrey (’25) said. “It took a lot of games, a lot of hard work, a lot of practice, hours people don’t see behind the scenes, and then just executing in the game.”
Scoring that many points isn’t just a test of talent, but also a test of dedication. You can’t just have an innate scoring ability; you also have to be willing to put in effort. You have to practice rigorously and give it your all during games, all while still cooperating with your teammates.
Godfrey doesn’t seem content to be the only player on the team with impressive scoring statistics. When you think of someone who scores 1000 points in high school, a selfish, individually focused player may come to mind. However, what makes Godfrey so impressive is her quality to push the rest of her team upwards. Consistently being a state leader in assists, Godfrey doesn’t just score, but she aids in other put-up points too, helping her teammates reach impressive scoring milestones like her.
“I’ve been coaching [for] over a decade, and I haven’t had many players with the kind of vision she has and the ability to get the ball to her teammates and get them involved like she has,” Batista said. “More than as a scorer, she has great vision, she sees the floor really well, and she helps her teammates score”.
With a 15-8 overall win ratio, and 3-0-win ratio in the district for the Knights, the rest of the season is looking promising for not just skilled point scorer and passer Godfrey, but also for the rest of the team.
