Last week, Harwood Union senior Eloise Lilley scored her 1,000th basketball point, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished at Harwood for over two decades.
“I felt really good; I wasn’t nervous. I was more excited for it to happen,” said Lilley, Waterbury, a four-year team member who also plays soccer.
As amazing as this accomplishment is, Lilley made it happen with a torn ACL and meniscus, putting off orthopedic surgery until next week.
“I’ve never coached a harder working player who is also humble about it. She worked out every single day and always did it on her own, quietly. After she injured her knee, she asked if she could still play with clearance,” girls’ varsity basketball coach Tommy Young said.
She injured her knee during a pre-season soccer scrimmage in August. With the help of physical therapy, a brace, a compression sleeve and learning how to tape her knee, she was able to continue to play.
This meant extensive rehab, learning to walk on it and trust her knee, and then getting the green light from the medical professionals, Young said.
“The kid didn't miss a beat and was more than ready for the start of the season. Her injury wasn't fixed, and the pain would be constant, but she had the strength to prove that her knee was stable enough to push through. During our game at MVU (this season) she fully tore her ACL and meniscus. However, she saw her surgeon and he again said go for the 1,000 and then he will do the surgery,” Young said.
She said initially she had not set her sights on that 1,000-point milestone, but as the season progressed and the points added up, it became clear it was possible. A look at her playing history reveals steady progression from the 2021-2022 season until this year. She scores 156 points her first year, 200 the second year, 477 last year and until last week’s 1,000th point, she had scored 973 career points, with over some 140 of those achieved this season.
Throughout her varsity career there has been only a single game, her freshman year, when she didn’t score!
Lilly credits her parents and her grandfather as her greatest supporters and said her grandfather comes to all her games even though walking is hard for him.
Next year she will be attending Ithaca College where she’ll be studying occupational therapy through a five-year program. After surgery next week, she’ll be rehabbing her knee for a year, playing basketball for Ithaca the following year.
“Eloise might end up as the second all-time female scorer for Harwood. Only three players have achieved 1,000 points and the last was Jess Johanssen 20 years ago,” Young said.
“A 1,000-point career is a team accomplishment and I know Eloise is truly grateful for all her teammates. A 1,000-point career is also a celebration of a player setting a goal and then going above and beyond every day (over her four-year career) to put herself in the position she is in. It comes with sacrifices, shooting 500 shots a day, extra workouts, weight training and so much more. However, many don’t know about all of the "extra" because she always did it behind the scenes and never talked about how much more she was doing. She never wanted the credit, just the goal of being the best she could absolutely be at the sport she truly loves,” Young added.
|
21-222 |
21-22 |
22-23 |
22-23 |
23-24 |
23-24 |
24-25 |
24-25 |
|
|
vs Montpelier |
11 |
vs Montpelier |
13 |
vs Montpelier |
26 |
vs Montpelier |
33 |
|
|
vs SB |
10 |
vs SB |
10 |
vs Middlebury |
25 |
@North Country |
17 |
|
|
vs MVU |
7 |
vs MVU |
9 |
vs MVU |
31 |
Middlebury |
23 |
|
|
vs Colchester |
14 |
vs Lamoille |
1 |
vs U-32 |
19 |
@U-32 |
||
|
vs Spaulding |
9 |
vs Spaulding |
9 |
vs Spaulding |
14 |
@MVU |
22 |
|
|
vs Peoples |
12 |
vs Lyndon |
3 |
vs NC |
9 |
@Lyndon |
14 |
|
|
vs Lyndon |
4 |
vs Lake Region |
6 |
vs U32 |
23 |
Spaulding |
15 |
|
|
vs Spaulding |
4 |
vs Spaulding |
9 |
Vs Thetford |
27 |
Lamoille |
16 |
|
|
vs U-32 |
8 |
vs U-32 |
7 |
vs Randolph |
24 |
Lake Region |
||
|
vs Montpelier |
14 |
vs Peoples |
7 |
vs Lamoille |
22 |
U-32 |
||
|
vs Lamoille |
3 |
vs Montpelier |
10 |
vs Oxbow |
26 |
@Thetford |
||
|
vs Lyndon |
1 |
vs Lyndon |
10 |
vs Montpelier |
26 |
Randolph |
||
|
vs Lake Region |
3 |
vs Oxbow |
9 |
vs Lyndon |
13 |
@Oxbow |
||
|
vs Oxbow |
3 |
vs Lake Region |
5 |
vs Lyndon |
16 |
@Montpelier |
||
|
vs Lake Region |
5 |
vs Randolph |
12 |
vs Spaulding |
17 |
Lyndon |
||
|
vs Middlebury |
3 |
vs Cochester |
13 |
vs Lamoille |
22 |
@Spaulding |
||
|
vs Randolph |
10 |
vs U-32 |
9 |
vs North Country |
23 |
@Lamoille |
||
|
vs Lamoille |
13 |
vs Thetford |
6 |
vs Lake Region |
25 |
North Country |
||
|
vs U-32 |
0 |
vs Springfield |
25 |
vs Peoples |
27 |
Peoples |
Senior Day |
|
|
vs Thetford |
11 |
vs Lake Region |
20 |
vs Lake Region |
22 |
@Lake Region |
||
|
vs Middlebury (playoff) |
11 |
vs NC |
7 |
vs Milton |
17 |
|||
|
vs Lyndon |
15 |
|||||||
|
Vs NC |
12 |
|||||||
|
Total |
156 |
200 |
477 |
140 |
||||
|
973 total |
