KNOX, Pa. (D9Sports) — Sometimes special players do special things on special nights.
(Photo of Tori Obenrader with her mom and assistant coach Terri Obenrader)
Friday night was one of those nights.
With three of her fellow teammates out sick along with her head coach, Terry Dreihaup, North Clarion junior Tori Obenrader scored 33 points and grabbed 21 rebounds while also netting her 1,000th career points in a 65-47 win at Keystone, a team that took the She-Wolves to double overtime three weeks ago.
Watch Obenrader score her 1,000th point on a pair of free throws with 1:58 left in the third quarter to put North Clarion ahead 45-23.
In her typical humble fashion, Obenrader was more concerned about the victory than her own personal achievement.
“It (1,000 points) means a lot, but it really means the most that we got the win tonight,” Obenrader said.
The moment and the game was also special to her mom, Terri Obenrader, the North Clarion assistant coach who was forced into head coaching duties with Dreihaup home in bed.
“Obviously it was very special,” Terri Obenrader said. “But, obviously, it would have been better if Terry (Dreihaup) would have been here. It would have been nice if we could have kind of held her back and waited to have it happen at home, but it was too early in the game to do that. I know Keystone can be the comeback kids, and I didn’t want to try to backoff that early in the game.
“I’m very proud of course, but she can’t do it without her teammates.”
That last quote was as true as ever Friday night.
Despite missing starters Michaela Higgins and Cassie Wagner as well as reserve Lindsay Zacherl, North Clarion played as a team from the get go.
Seven different She-Wolves scored including a career-high 13 points from Ally Carll, who was in double digits for the first time this season, as well as six points from Gabby Carll, who entered the game scoring just five points in 11 games this season. Ally Carll added six rebounds as did freshman Haley Sherman helping North Clarion out rebound Keystone 53-30.
“I didn’t imagine coming out of here with a 20-point win,” Terri Obenrader said. “I thought it would be a hard-fought game. I told them in the lockerroom that we needed to show them what we were made of tonight. Our girls came through and made it easy for me, that’s for sure.”
In a lot of ways North Clarion did make things easy on their acting head coach scoring the game’s first seven points while taking a 13-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.
That lead grew to as many as 18 points in the second quarter — 22-4 and 30-12 — before the She-Wolves took a 16-points, 30-14, lead into halftime with Tori Obenrader responsible for 16 of those points.
Needing 10 points to hit 1,000, Tori Obenrader then went on a personal 8-0 run right out of the gate in the second half hitting a pair of 3-pointers, she had five made triples in the game, to push the North Clarion lead to 38-14 two minutes into the second half.
Then, after three of her teammates — Ally Carll, Gena Caldwell and Gabby Carll — helped keep the lead above 20, Tori Obenrader ended up grabbing her 1,000th career point in a way that is very fitting to her game. She grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled before calmly sinking the two free throws.
That set off a wild celebration that included a classy move from Keystone head coach Barry Foust, who came over to congratulate Obenrader, the eighth girls’ player in school history to score 1,000 career points. She also joins her brother Mitch (1,226) and her cousin Wendy (1,822) in the 1,000-point club at North Clarion. Wendy (Obenrader) Franty is the all-time leading scorer for the She-Wolves.
Watch the celebration of Obenrader scoring her 1,000th point.
Keystone, which struggled from the floor all night shooting 33.3 percent (19 of 57) including 10 of 38 (26.3 percent) through three quarters, got a double-double from Alyssa Beichner, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds including eight points and three rebounds in the fourth quarter. Makenzie Byerley also scored 12 points to go with six rebounds, while Taylor Geer added 11 points and six boards despite fouling out with 5:02 to play.
The win improves North Clarion to 12-0 on the season. The She-Wolves host Moniteau Wednesday.
Keystone falls to 4-8 on the year. The Lady Panthers host Punxsutawney Monday.
CAREER GIRLS’ 1,000-POINT SCORERS AT NORTH CLARION
RK-PLAYER-GRADUATION YEAR — POINTS
1 — Wendy Obenrader — 1991 — 1,822
2 — Gina Hartle — 1994 — 1,299
3 — Chris Allio — 1990 — 1,225
4 — Megan Miller — 1995 — 1,122
5 — Abbie Schmader — 2016 — 1,066
6 — Jess Tarr — 2010 — 1,047
7 — Jessica Weaver — 2000 — 1,030
8 — Tori Obenrader — 2018 — 1,007
NORTH CLARION 65, KEYSTONE 47
Score by Quarters
N. Clarion 13 17 17 18 — 65
Keystone 4 10 13 20 — 47
NORTH CLARION — 65
Abby Gatesman 2 1-2 6, Tori Obenrader 11 6-6 33, Ally Carll 5 2-6 13, Gabby Carll 3 0-2 6, Gena Caldwell 0 1-2 1, Gabby Schmader 1 0-0 2, Mackenzie Bauer 0 0-0 0, Haley Sherman 0 0-0 0, Cierah Manross 1 2-4 4, Megan Baumcratz 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 12-22 65.
KEYSTONE — 47
Alyssa Dunlap 0 0-2 0, Makenzie Byerley 5 0-0 12, McKenzie Hovis 2 3-4 8, Taylor Geer 4 0-0 11, Alyssa Beichner 6 0-0 12, Jenna Stiller 0 0-0 0, Jessi Phillippi 1 0-0 2, Claire Warner 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 3-6 47.
THREE-POINTERS: North Clarion 7 (Obenrader 5, Gatesman, Ally Carll). Keystone 6 (Geer 3, Byerley 2, Hovis)
