Souhegan’s White hits 1k points

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Joe Marchilena photo Souhegan's Jane White drives to the basket during last Friday's game against Coe-Brown. White had 16 points, including the 1,000th point of her career.

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AMHERST – When Jane White stepped to the free throw line, the Souhegan High School senior knew she was three points away from basketball history.

Hard not to know when a classmate was keeping track in the stands with a dry erase board.

White had been fouled on a 3-point attempt late in the third quarter last Friday against Coe-Brown and was heading to the line needing three points to reach 1,000 for her career. There were nerves – that happens when someone is publicly tallying your scoring – but White has succeeded in the face of greater pressure before.

“I’m kind of used to the pressure situation,” she said. “For some reason, I do better under pressure. I knew I had three left. Coach told me that when I had three left, I could shoot from kind of far out. I just pulled up and luckily I got fouled.”

After sinking the first two to the approval of the Souhegan crowd, White calmly shot the third free throw.

The ball bounced on the rim and went down, and the game was stopped for a moment to honor the accomplishment – but not for long.

“I don’t want all the attention on me,” White said. “I just wanted to get back to playing, especially since we had the lead at that point.”

Souhegan had a 37-33 lead, but ended up losing to Coe-Brown 58-52. While the loss stung, there was reason for the Sabers to smile afterward.

“To reach a thousand is tough,” Souhegan coach Jeremy Faulkner said. “I don’t think she was trying to score the thousandth point. I know she wanted it, but she wanted the win first. There’s always another day to get it.”