Pottstown’s Reddick reaches 1,000-point milestone; Methacton tops Trojans 67-44

FAIRVIEW VILLAGE >> Ebony Reddick was just doing what she does.

Though the Pottstown senior became aware she could reach the 1,000-point milestone in her final scholastic season, she was determined to not let it affect her play.

Letting it come naturally is exactly what happened on her second basket in the first quarter Tuesday at Methacton as Reddick, who entered the night four points shy, drove through traffic for a left-handed layup that gave her 1,000 career points.

“I feel great. I’m glad I finally hit it; it’s what I was waiting for,” said Reddick, who scored a game-high 20 points to finish on 1,016 for her career.

She and father Eric Reddick took stock of her career scoring total entering her final season and knew reaching 1,000 was a very realistic goal.

“(My dad) said, ‘But every game, don’t think about it. Just be humble and keep playing and you’re going to hit it regardless,’” Ebony Reddick said. “I just stayed humble and kept fighting for this, to get 1,000 points.”

While the Trojans and their supporters left happy celebrating Reddick’s big night, Methacton had reason to be pleased as well as it rolled to a 67-44 victory in a Pioneer Athletic Conference crossover game between two teams chasing winning records.

The balanced Warriors got 18 points from sophomore Sydney Tornetta, 17 from senior guard Nicole Cooper and 11 from senior forward Jill Zerbe as they improved to 5-7 overall (2-2 PAC Liberty, 3-2 PAC) in the first of three PAC divisional crossover games.

Zerbe’s outside shooting keyed a well-paced first quarter that saw Methacton lead 20-12 before Tornetta picked up steam by consistently getting into the lane, leading to a 38-21 halftime lead. The Warriors’ largest lead came with 3:36 to play up 63-35 amid Cooper’s scoring tear as the guard scored nine-straight points for Methacton.

“We’ve been struggling a lot but we came together as a team and moved the ball really well,” Cooper said. “Everyone wasn’t just shooting because it was ‘their turn’ but we played really good defense and our offense was on fire tonight. Everyone combined well.”

Forward Reilly Owens added 12 points for Pottstown, which fell to 5-7 (1-3 PAC Frontier, 1-4 PAC).

New crew >> Methacton was PAC runner-up last season to eventual PIAA Class 6A champion Boyertown but graduated four starters, including All-Area first team selection Ryan DeOrio.

It’s made for a transitional period as players fill into larger roles than they once knew.

“It’s been a lot. We lost four seniors from last year who were all starters,” Cooper said. “We were all role players, Jill (Zerbe), Liv (Olivia Pennypacker) and myself, so we didn’t have that full varsity experience. Now we need to show it’s our time to shine and all come together as a team. Some players are together, some aren’t, so we need to gel it together and get on the same page. It’s largely chemistry, and knowing how everyone works, where they like to be.”

After experiencing the success of past season’s the new Warriors want their own taste.

“I’m not too happy with (our progress), but we’re starting to come together more as a team,” Cooper said. “The beginning of the season was rough and feel we should have won a few games that we lost that would have given us a winning record. But we know what we’re capable of and we need to do it every single time.

Methacton entered the night ranked No. 28 in the District 1 Class 6A rankings (24-team field).

Long-time coming >> Pottstown head coach Chris Jackson is in his 10th season and had yet to have a game paused for one of his players to be celebrated for a scoring milestone.

“This is my 10th year and it’s my first 1,000-point scorer and I’m really happy for her,” Jackson said. “She deserves it. She works her tail off day in and day out on the floor so really deserves all the honors that she gets. She’s going to be missed.

“I’m happy that I have a thousand-point scorer on my resume,” Jackson joked.

Reddick has been a multi-sport standout at Pottstown since she was a freshman. She has committed to attend Notre Dame College of Ohio on a lacrosse scholarship.

Ask for an extension >> The Trojans are coming off a 9-13 season, not bad by most measures, but one without any postseason play. Pottstown entered the night ranked No. 14 for the 16-team District 1 Class 5A field.

“We’re doing very good so far. We’re trying to make districts. I really do want to make districts and take it farther. I don’t want it to end against Sun Valley (in our regular season finale),” said Reddick.

“We’re 5-7, but we lost some winnable games. We’re not where I think we could be, but I’m glad we’re not where we could be. You take the bad with the good,” Jackson said. “We have 10 games left and hopefully we can get the shots to fall so we can hopefully get some wins and extend our season.”