ANOTHER 1000 POINT WOOD
Averill Park’s Amelia Wood reaches 1,000 point milestone in final game of season as a junior
AVERILL PARK, NY » It’s a significant accomplishment for any student-athlete for score 1,000 points. Averill Park’s Amelia Wood got to the milestone as a junior, in the coronavirusshortened season.
“We’re especially proud because when you earn your 1,000 points, when you get to that benchmark in the Suburban Council - that is not easy,” said Warriors Head Coach Sean Organ. “Those points are earned in this league. It’s an impressive thing to do.”
The Averill Park junior joins three others in the Warriors’ 1,000-point-club. Kate Duma ‘10, Stephanie Jankovic ‘18 and her sister Kelsey Wood ‘20 are the only others to achieve the milestone.
“That definitely means something special,” Wood said after the game against Saratoga on Wednesday night, when she broke the threshold. “I’ve always looked up to my sister and that’s always been a goal of mine so it really means a lot.”
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The kicker to it all is that she had no idea how close to 1,000 she actually was.
“I honestly had no idea how many points I had, so it was a total surprise to me,” she said. “I had no idea until Coach Organ came over to me and said
‘congrats, you just scored your 1,000th point.’”
“I was like oh my god, no way.”
“My family was keeping it kind of a secret,” said Amelia’s older sister Kelsey. “I was watching the game and keeping track of her points the whole way.”
Kelsey was incredibly proud of her sister and achieving 1000 points in her junior year, the same year Kelsey had done as well.
“It’s crazy she is growing up so fast,” said Kelsey. “It’s crazy to think that was me two years ago. It’s insane with how fast time is going right now but I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Kelsey and Amelia’s paths have been eerily the same. Could a Wood sister reunion be in the near future at Sacred Heart University where Kelsey currently plays Division 1 basketball?
“I hope so but she hasn’t made any decisions yet,” said Kelsey. “There is a tiny chance but she has not made any decision yet.”
That moment came during a timeout that Saratoga had called. Wood had just scored to bring Averill Park closer to tying the game the Suburban Council semifinals. As Saratoga worked on getting their defense together, Organ shared the news, and then got back to work.
“I would check over with Scott Keegan, my assistant coach, occasionally and he’d say that she was stuck at 999, probably after three times I spoke to him. Then she made an aggressive move across the top of the key, scored it and then they called a timeout. I brought her over and said ‘congratulations Meals, that was just your 1,000th point.’ She was good about it. She didn’t know and she didn’t let it impact her game. She really handled it well.” Organ continued.
“It came at an awkward time, where we’re in the middle of a playoff run and trying to get to that next game, to reach the finals. We didn’t really want it to disrupt the flow of the game or our momentum, or make it awkward somehow,” he said.
He acknowledged that not telling Wood she was close to 1,000 was part of the plan.
“What we’ve found, especially with Kate, is that things don’t come as smooth all of a sudden and they start forcing shots. We wanted to let it happen naturally and if it happened this game, great. If not, we were looking forward to the beginning of next season.”
Wood scored 21 points on Wednesday night, although the Warriors fell to Saratoga, ending their 2021 season.
“I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it without my teammates, my friends and my coaches,” Wood said.
Organ reflected on what it’s been like to coach Wood and her sisters over the years.
“They’re an extremely talented family and it’s not just Amelia and Kelsey, there’s Malorie and Caroline who are incredible athletes as well. I was privileged to be their coach as well going over the past few years.”
The story is not over yet. The junior was quick to remind that she’s still got another season to play and she’s going to be out to get Averill Park’s eighth straight Section 2, Class A title, when high school basketball returns back to normal.