During her sophomore season, Rockwood Summit's Kaitlyn Brame and her mom, Debbie, were watching a girls game at the Hillsboro Tournament when the crowd suddenly went wild.
"I remember thinking ‘why are they getting excited?'" said Kaitlyn, who later discovered it was because one of the players had scored her 1,000th point.
"I looked at my mom and said, ‘I want to do that someday.'"
That day came on Friday night against Kirkwood. The 5-foot-10 senior forward entered the game needing 14 points to reach the mark, far from a sure thing against the talented Pioneers.
But Brame, who came in averaging 13 points per game, go 17 during her team's 51-35 home defeat. Summit fell to 12-13 on the season.
"I scored a couple baskets right away, but after that they really started keying on me," Brame said. "I was thinking, wow, I still have aways to go."
But in the second half, Brame was able to get inside on several occasions, and ended up drawing a lot of fouls. She finished eight of 10 from the free-throw line, and four of 17 from the floor, and eventually layed in No. 1,000 on a nice feed from teammate Kali Thomas.
"The crowd went wild and the band started playing our school song," Brame said. "Then the other team called a timeout and everyone started hugging me in our huddle."
Brame now has 1,003 points heading into district play on Monday. That left her third in Summit history, joining former Falcons Michelle Gainey and Kate Evers in the 1,000-point club.
Brame has given a verbal commitment to Fontbonne University, where she plans to major in speech pathology.
Brame came off the bench as a freshman before working her way into the starting lineup. Summit coach Debbie Spiezio wasn't surprised by the accomplishment.
"She is our biggest girl and our offense is centered on getting her the ball inside," Spiezio said. "She usually gets a lot of shots in our offense. I was very happy for her."
Brame is not one of the team's best shooters percentage-wise, but Spiezio said has always been determined to get her points.
"She's our best rebounder, and a very good free-throw shooter," Spiezio said. "I knew if she came out and played hard, she could do it."
