Notre Dame's Megan Harrell reaches 1,000-point girls basketball milestone
Megan Harrell is willing to do whatever it takes to make her basketball game just a little bit better.
So when she was struggling with her free-throw shooting recently, she went to her grandfather, Brent Young's shop, and he helped her fix her shot.
That extra work paid off on Tuesday when Harrell scored the 1,000th point of her high school career in the Nikes' 62-49 victory over SEI Superconference South Division rival West Burlington.
Harrell went 11-of-12 from the free-throw line, the last two putting her over the 1,000-point threshold.
Perhaps it was only fitting that Harrell reached the milestone at the free-throw line, and with a little help from her grandfather, who has been there every step of the way for her.
“My grandpa helped me. We went to his shop and we worked on it. It’s definitely helped me a lot," Harrell said. “That game I was 11- for 12 on free throws. I got 1,000 exactly. I needed 11 and I got 11 points. I thought that was funny. My free throw is the worst part of my game. I’m fixing it and it definitely worked that game.”
Harrell scored half of her 1,000 points for Illini West High School in Carthage, Illinois, before she transferred to Notre Dame before her junior year.
Harrell scored 267 points in 17 games last season and had 179 points through the Nikes' first 13 games this season.
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On Tuesday, Harrell was held without a field goal by the Falcons' staunch defense. But she made up for it at the free-throw line, while her teammates picked up the slack from the field.
“I thought I was going to get a and-one on a few of them, but they rolled in and rolled out. There was a cap on the basket for me that night. I just knew I had to do something, so free throws were the thing," Harrell said. “I knew they were focusing on me that game, so I needed to get my teammates open. When they are focusing on me, I drive. They double team me and I pass it out. Lo (Lauren Krieger) was hitting threes. Reagan (Engberg) was hitting threes. All of them were on.”
Harrell has benefited from playing in the Nikes' pressing defense and uptempo game, something she also enjoyed at Illini West. That has helped Harrell flourish in her four years of high school basketball.
“I’ve always been an uptempo kind of player. We were at Illini West, too. With me being on the top of the press, I was used to it. So I think I was used to it when I came here," Harrell said. “It was amazing. I knew that I was pretty close to it from the get-go. I’ve played since freshman year. That was one of my goals through my high school career was to reach that goal. Reaching it felt great.”
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The Nikes (14-0 overall, 11-0 South Division), ranked seventh in Class 1A, return to action Tuesday when they travel to play Central Lee. The Nikes visit Fort Madison on Jan. 29 before returning home to Father Minett Gymnasium Jan. 31 to play Van Buren County.
The Nikes are trying to return to the state tournament for the first time since 2017.
“I’m ready. We definitely can do it," Harrell said.
This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Senior guard scores her 1,000th career point against West Burlington
