Quick milestone: Jennings scores 1,000th point

Reaching the 1,000-point career milestone is quite an accomplishment for an Indiana high school basketball player.

To do so in the first two years is certainly a rarity.

Logansport sophomore Whitney Jennings was able to achieve that Tuesday night at the Berry Bowl in the midst of an 81-56 rout of Twin Lakes.

“I don’t keep those statistics because I’ve never coached those types of players, but I don’t know very many, and there isn’t very many,” veteran Logansport coach Jerry Hoover said of sophomores who reach the 1,000-point plateau.

“To do it at a 4A school is even more remarkable with the schedule that we play. It’s a great accomplishment.”

Jennings needed 18 points to reach the career milestone entering the night and reached it before halftime. With 2:10 remaining in the first half she took a pass from Madyson Price on the left block and banked in a smooth shot for her 19th point of the night and 1,001st of her career.

Jennings then poured it on in the third quarter, scoring 18 points in the frame for 37 total entering the fourth. She added a field goal in the final stanza to finish with 39 points for the game. She added eight steals and six assists in the contest.

Just like she has all season, Jennings hit a number of stop-and-pop jumpers and was nearly unstoppable in transition. She went 15 of 25 from the field and 9 of 9 from the foul line for the game.

In 41 career games, she has scored 1,021 points for an average of 24.9 points per game.

This season she’s now averaging 25.7 ppg, which is second in the state among IHSAA players according to the stats website VarVee.com.

She’s also second in the state in assists, averaging 7.7 per contest this season.

“She’s a much more complete basketball player this year than she was last year, and it shows up statistically in steals and turnovers and assists,” Hoover said.

Her sniper of a sister, Rachel Jennings, added 19 points in Tuesday’s rout. She was 5 of 11 from 3-point range and added four steals. McKenzie Mills scored nine and Kiley Victor pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

Laurhen Pickett led the Indians (8-10) with 18 points on 9 of 10 shooting from the field. Chloe McAchren had 15 points, and Coryn Tirpak added 11 and nine boards.

Logan (16-3) jumped out to a 31-12 lead to start the game and opened the second half with a 15-0 run to take a 58-30 advantage. Twin Lakes would get no closer than 24 the rest of the way, and Logan led by as much as 70-38 early in the fourth quarter.

Whitney Jennings is now well on pace to eclipse all-time leading scorer Jasmine Penny’s total of 1,784 points as well as the total LHS basketball scoring record of 2,042 set by boys player Caleb Springer.

“We’ll see, hopefully,” Whitney Jennings said of eclipsing those marks. “No, I don’t have a set goal. Every year just go out and try to do better than the last.”

Logan hosts New Castle on Friday night. A Berry win would secure the North Central Conference title outright. Admission to the game is just $1.