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February 15, 2013

Nester reaches milestone

By JAMIE JONES Princeton Times

GARDNER — It’s an accomplishment only a handful of players achieve in a career, but doing it during your junior year after coming back from a knee-injury? That’s something to talk about. Lady Panther Hope Nester scored her 1,000th career point last Friday, placing her among the elite at PikeView High School.

Nester only needed 227 points going into this season to reach 1,000, but after going through a knee injury over the summer, which included surgery and rehab, the accomplishment no doubt appeared out of reach for this season.

“It comes through a lot of hard work, and it’s definitely a weight lifted off my shoulders,” she said. “It was a goal I wanted to reach and doing it as a junior definitely gets it off my mind and I don’t have to worry about it my senior year. It puts a smile on my face.”

PikeView head coach Karen Miller stated, “It’s an honor, and especially when you accomplish it as a junior, that makes it even more special. With her condition coming in at the beginning of the season, it limited her time, but she’s now to the point where she can stay on the floor longer.”

And just a little longer is what Nester needed to score 19 more points last Friday at Summers County. She finished the game with 21.  

Since the inception of PikeView in 1994, only two other girls have scored 1,000 points in their careers solely as Lady Panthers; Laken Coeburn and Trista Thomas.

 “I was lucky enough to be able to start as a freshman,” Nester said. “Not everyone gets that opportunity. When you get 22 games on the floor starting, that definitely helps as far as getting stats and being able to reach that goal sooner. Plus, we made it to states both years, which added even more games. And hopefully we make it back there again this year.”

Nester is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 13.7 points per game. “What’s so great about our team is when she comes out, we can put another player in and they are starting now to gel,” Miller said. “That’s good, when you can take Hope out and the girls continue to play well and don’t lose a beat.”

The Panthers (10-10) finished out their regular season with a 58-28 win over Shady Spring on Wednesday night in what was “Parent and Grand-parent Night” and played James Monroe on Thursday, where lone senior, Laura Hatfield, was honored.

As the number one seed in the sectional tournament, the Lady Panthers will play their first tournament game on Tuesday night against winner of the Mount View/Riverview game. The game will be held at Princeton Senior High School at 6pm. Other teams in the section include Bluefield and James Monroe.

“With Summers County out of our sectional, that helps a little bit,” stated Nester, “but it’s going be a hard section. The teams are pretty much equally matched. It can be anybody’s game. It just depends on who’s on that night. We can’t take any possession or any ball for granted. We have to play like it’s our last game and hope that we can come out with a win.”

The ladies haven’t played Mount View, but defeated Riverview in the regular season, 44-35. They defeated Bluefield twice, 55-45 and 50-39 and James Monroe, 60-53.

“It’ll be a tough sectional,” Miller said. “James Monroe and Bluefield are playing real well. Mount View, from what I’ve heard, as really improved. We just need to play our game. Our defense has really kept us in some games. Our offense was lacking early, but it’s starting to come along. If our offense and defense both are clicking, we will be fine. When you get into sectionals, you don’t know how the girls are going to play, if they are going to be tight or what. Hopefully, we can just get in there and play like they should.”

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