KELLIHER 鈥� Kate Thayer aimed her sights high as a freshman. She wanted to hit 1,000 career points while playing on the Northome/Kelliher girls basketball team.
It turns out she set her sights a little too low.
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Thayer made program history on Jan. 6 against Lake of the Woods, becoming the first Mustang in program history to hit 2,000 career points.
鈥淚t was so surreal,鈥� Thayer said. 鈥淚t was so crazy celebrating with my team and family.鈥�
Thayer eclipsed the milestone as a junior, a testament not only to her scoring ability, but also her drive and effort across the court.
鈥淪he works her butt off,鈥� N/K head coach Kevin Waldo said. 鈥淪he finds her points, she finds her opportunities, she goes and gets offensive rebounds as someone that鈥檚 not as tall as the bigs, but she goes in and makes those opportunities, which makes her teammates tougher, and they want to go out and do the same thing.鈥�
Thayer鈥檚 teammates are well aware of her abilities on the court. But for those younger members of the program or even the girls in the stands 鈥� like her little sister, who was there to witness the milestone 鈥� it provided an inspiration of sorts, proof of the success that can be reached at Northome/Kelliher.
鈥淚t definitely helps our younger girls,鈥� Waldo said. "I think the older girls that played with her, they know they鈥檙e happy for her, they know what she is. But these younger girls or kids in the stands, when they see that, it makes them want to go work harder, it makes them want to get to the gym.鈥�
鈥淓ven little girls, like I鈥檝e got a little sister, it鈥檚 just cool for everyone,鈥� Thayer said.
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As soon as that celebration ended in January, it was time for Thayer's next set of goals.
However, when asked about her future aims, Thayer didn鈥檛 mention hitting another scoring mark or any sort of personal records as the next check point. Her focus is on winning.
鈥淢y goal is to hopefully go far in the playoffs,鈥� Thayer said. 鈥淪ubsection, section, maybe state tournament.鈥�
Thayer鈥檚 team-oriented focus is a reflection of a group set on achieving goals as a unit. It鈥檚 reflected in Northome/Kelliher鈥檚 play; like any successful offense, the Mustangs are honed in on making the extra pass, the right read and finding the open player 鈥� a group described by Waldo as playing with 鈥渘o selfishness in any of them.鈥�
鈥淢y teammates are amazing,鈥� Thayer said. 鈥淓veryone鈥檚 amazing on my team.鈥�
鈥�(Thayer is) a humble kid,鈥� Waldo said. 鈥淭hey all have their goals, and that鈥檚 what keeps you motivated, but they have a team goal, and their team goal is to get to the state tournament or to get as far as we possibly can get, and they know that not one person is going to do it. They need everyone to do it and it鈥檚 going to take, whether it鈥檚 some kid that comes off the bench for two minutes or whoever, they know that in order to reach their goals and our goals as a team, it has to be all them.鈥�
The Mustangs took another important step toward the postseason on Tuesday, dominating Pine River-Backus 99-48.
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The offense was hot from the jump. Northome/Kelliher entered halftime with a 62-32 lead over the Tigers. The Mustangs didn鈥檛 take their foot off the gas in the second frame, opening the half with a 10-0 run to further extend the lead.
鈥淲e were working well as a team,鈥� Thayer said. 鈥淥ur shots were going in, good defense.鈥�
With over seven minutes left in the game, Northome/Kelliher sent in the subs.
鈥淲e shot the ball well, our defense, we played defense well,鈥� Waldo said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had a lot of games in a short amount of time, so we were just getting into the flow, trying to get into the flow, and they started fast, which that鈥檚 what we wanted them to do. 鈥� We knew Pine River was definitely a decent opponent, so we wanted to test ourselves in some of the stuff we鈥檝e been working on and things like that.鈥�
Naturally, Thayer earned her fair share of buckets in the win, scoring at the cup and around the perimeter for a team-high 32 points. She also flexed her play away from the ball, providing solid defense and consistently throwing herself toward the glass to grab rebounds.
Thayer wasn鈥檛 the only consistent basket-getter for the Mustangs, as the offense flexed its scoring depth. Kylee Binkley was next up on the stat sheet, tallying 21 points. Alli Lundin, Lexi Hallstrom and Kenna Latterell all finished with double-digit point totals as well.
鈥淚t was a good test, it was an all-around good team effort,鈥� Waldo said. 鈥淵ou look at the scoreboard there, I mean, points don鈥檛 tell everything, but everyone鈥檚 got double digits, that鈥檚 a great thing to see. When everyone can do that, it makes us tough.鈥�
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Northome/Kelliher 99, Pine River-Backus 48
PRB 32 16 鈥� 48
NK 62 37 鈥� 99
Northome/Kelliher 鈥� Thayer 32, K. Binkley 21, Lundin 17, Hallstrom 15, Latterell 10, Poxleitner 3, Wang 2.
Pine River-Backus 鈥� Tulenchik 15, Bueckers 13, Brewer 8, Burns 5, Johnson 4, Crimmins 2.
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