BROWNSTOWN — The “heartbeat” of the Brownstown/St. Elmo girls basketball team is sophomore guard Dayana Haslett.
The team rallies around her and celebrates with her.
The latest celebration came on Thursday when Haslett recorded her 1,000th point in a 59-33 win over Mt. Olive at Brownstown High School.
“It means a lot,” Haslett said. “I’ve been looking forward to this. It’s been one of my biggest goals since I started varsity. It’s so cool and I still can’t believe I did it.”
An offensive-first player, Haslett used defense to record her 1,000th point.
The guard stole a pass, raced down the floor and scored.
Haslett held her hands wide after scoring and celebrated with her teammate, Addie Sasse, before a large crowd cheered.
Haslett finished the game with 23 points.
“If I’m open, I’m shooting it,” said Haslett with a chuckle. “If that hand is not up, I’m shooting it. I really like offense. I like defense, too, but offense is one of my big things.”
BSE improved to 17-2 with the win.
This night was just as important to the coaching staff, as well. Head coach Tim Pasley and assistant coach Dana Pasley have coached Haslett since she was in junior high school.
“He’s such a good coach. He pushes me every day,” Haslett said. “I ask him what I need to work on in practice and he does a good job of telling me the little things to work on so I can get better.”
One thing she has bettered over the years is her shooting.
A knock-down shooter from anywhere on the court, yes. But Tim Pasley mentioned that he and Dana did adjust her shot before she got to high school.
“In junior high, my assistant, Dana, noticed she was turning her hand and flipping the ball just to get stronger because she needed to create a little more room to get that shot up,” Tim said. “We had her in open gym and I said, ‘Dayana, we’re going to change your shot.’ She was shocked a little bit, but she didn’t buck against it. I have the luxury of having a great shooter as an assistant coach and we said, ‘This is what it needs to look like,’ and I showed her. I said, ‘You can’t fix it today here in the gym. You’re going to have to go home, get 500 to 1,000 shots up every day.’
“Little did I know, she would take that to heart.”
The work showed early on in Thursday’s contest.
Haslett opened the game with the first five points, hitting a three-pointer and then a layup off a steal.
Peyton Barker and Presley Williams then converted layups and the Bombers were ahead 9-0. They grew their lead to 16-2 with 29.4 seconds left in the first quarter after another Haslett three-pointer and ended up leading 16-4 at the end of the period.
BSE led 33-11 at halftime and 50-23 at the end of the third quarter. The Lady Wildcats outscored the Bombers 10-9 in the fourth quarter.
Barker added 14 points. Williams had 12. Danika Ramsey had six and Sasse and Madi Miller each had two.
Before the varsity game started, the school honored its first-ever Brownstown Hall of Fame class, making the night that much more special.
Athletic director Jessica Sefton said this was on the to-do list when she started.
“When I took this position, this was one thing I had on my list that I would like to get started for our school district,” Sefton said. “The first person I went to was my principal, who gave me a lot of really good startup information. He told me I should reach out to the community, start a committee and get the ball rolling that way.”
The committee consisted of Sefton and seven other individuals.
“We met a few times and discussed what we wanted to see from this and the qualifications and the nomination process going forward,” Sefton said.
Sefton continued by saying that this would go on for years to come.
She did elude to only three or four inductees being involved per year.
“I feel like we did the hard part this year — getting this first class figured out,” Sefton said. “From year to year, the community will bring the names of the people they want to see. Starting next fall, there will be a nomination form where anyone can nominate someone based on the qualifications that we came up with and then, from there, we would take those nominations each year and, as a committee, vote.”
Samantha Hayes reaches 1,000 for her career
Samantha Hayes also reached 1,000 points for her career on Thursday night, doing so in a 61-15 rout of Bethany (Okaw Valley) at Stewardson-Strasburg High School.
“It means I scored one more than 999,” Hayes joked. “Scoring 1,000 points means that I have been blessed to have played a lot of games in the last four years. It has never been a goal that I thought about constantly. What meant the most to me about all of this was the people who came and supported me. The WSS community is amazing. I love all of the fans that come and watch our games. My teammates, coaches, teachers and surrounding areas have congratulated me on this achievement, which means a lot to me. I love them all.
“The biggest part of this accomplishment is my teammates. They are awesome people and players who pass me the ball, so I thank them.”
Hayes scored her 1,000th and 1,001st points with 3:44 left in the second quarter.
She is the second member of her family to achieve such an honor, joining older sister Hannah.
Once her sister did it, she knew she had to do it.
“After my sister, Hannah, scored her 1,000th point, I thought, ‘How hard could it be?’ At the end of my freshman and sophomore years, I knew I was on track to get 1,000, but I didn’t focus on it,” Samantha said. “I would play with the intent to get better all-around, not just scoring. To me, it is just as fun to get rebounds and assists as it is to score. The parts of the game that I try to focus on are effort, hustle and being smart. Playing each game to the best of my ability is what I focus on and whatever happens, happens. I trust my teammates and coaches.”
Samantha finished with 19 points in the game.
“Sam’s one of the better athletes in the area for females,” head coach Brian Lee said. “I would put her as a top two or three all-around athlete in this area. She’s skilled. She is just as good at basketball as she is in softball.”
The team improved to 9-4 with the victory.
WSS led 23-2 at the end of the first quarter, 40-6 at halftime and 53-9 at the end of the third. The Hatchets outscored the Timberwolves 8-6 in the fourth.
Ellie Wittenberg added 16 points. Kendra Hayes, Samantha’s younger sister, had 10. Clarissa Johnson had eight. Kierra Mueller had five and Claire Holland had three.