Kailey Turpening made the most of Freedom’s senior night when she scored her 1,000th point on Jan. 24 during the Patriots’ 58-32 girls basketball victory over Southern Lehigh at Freedom.

“I knew there was a chance. I really wanted it to be that night because it was a home game, it was senior night, and if I didn’t hit it that night, it would’ve had to be away at Beca, so I was really trying for it. I shot a lot more than I normally would but I really wanted to get it that night,” Turpening said. “Right before the game, my coach (Steve Raysley) said something like, ‘You can go for it. You don’t have to worry about going for it this game, but if you can do it we’re gonna support you. We want you to score your thousandth, especially on your senior night.’”

With about three minutes remaining in the game, Turpening scored number 1,000 in style: a fast break layup.

“I got the steal, and then I went down, and I actually got an and-one with a left-handed layup,” she said.

It was also Turpening’s 24th point of the game, tying her career-high.

“At first I was surprised that I wasn’t really that nervous to score the thousandth. I thought I was going to be missing all these shots, but I was on that night, and once I made that, I was just so happy,” said Turpening, “and it didn’t really hit me until my teammates (Ciana Feliciano, Keturah Stewart, Isabel Rodriguez, and Natalie Stannard) came and hugged me all at once, and then the bench came on, and then once the coach gave me the game ball, that’s when I was like, wow. I really did it.”

Turpening also holds Freedom’s school record for three-pointers with 167.

“I’m really proud of myself, and considering there was a COVID year, not many people are scoring 1,000. Only having 12 games junior year, I was getting a little worried about it, but I kept on pushing,” Turpening said. “Once it actually happened, I felt a lot of relief and it felt good.”