Park School’s Rose Coll hit the magical 1,000-point mark of her career, but it wasn’t enough in the end, as visiting St. Mary’s rallied in the second half for a 43-36 IAAM B Conference win in Brooklandville Friday.
Melanie Mocniak scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds for St. Mary’s (12-7, 8-3 IAAM B), and Kelly Broussard added 10 points and seven boards. The win secured the Annapolis school’s grip on second in the Gold division.
Park dropped to 6-6 in the league (11-7 overall), dropping a half game behind 6-5 Maryvale Prep in a battle for third place.
Coming into the game, Coll needed just eight points to hit the 1,000 mark. She nailed a pair of three-pointers in the opening quarter, bringing her to 998.
Then, in the second quarter, she caught a pass on the right block, spun to the middle and hit a running left-hand hook-shot over two defenders to reach the milestone. Coll wasn’t aware she was close to the milestone.
“It’s exciting and surprising,” she said. “I had no idea it was coming. It’s been a great four years, and this is an honor I share with all my teammates.”
“Patrick [O’Grady, one of my assistants] has known Rose a long time,” said Park coach Kevin Coll, who in addition to his coaching duties also doubles as Rose’s father. “He was coaching her on an AAU team when she was a seventh grader, and he’s always been her biggest fan. He was tracking it carefully, and he had a special ball made to mark the occasion, but we didn’t tell the girls until after it happened.”
To reach 1,000 points, a player (if not a rare prolific scorer) needs to average about 11-12 points per game over a four-year career, based on about 21-22 games per season or 84-88 games for a career. Coll has had both the consistent production and the durability needed to achieve the mark. She averaged 8.3 points a game as a freshman, 13.5 as a sophomore, 14.1 as a junior and 12.6 thus far as a senior.
“As far as I know, Rose is the first female player to get 1,000 at Park. We never talked about it because, as a coach, you don’t want to focus on individual achievements. As a dad, I’m really, really proud. She’s worked so hard, and being able to coach her for four years is one of the great joys of my life,” added Coach Coll.
A senior captain this year, she has been a varsity starter for four years and started in three championship games. She has been the team’s leading rebounder and scorer since her sophomore year and was a two-time All-Star in the C Conference. This year, with Park up in the B Conference, she leads the Bruins in every major statistical category (rebounding, assists, steals, blocked shots, three-pointers) except scoring, where she’s second to Akira Townes.
The two teams met in Annapolis back in early January, with St. Mary’s winning by 26 points. “They blitzed us with the press, and we were down 22-4 at the end of the first quarter, not a good effort,” said Coach Coll. “This time, at our place, we played much better. We were up 12-7 at the quarter and 20-17 at the half.”
But the Bruins couldn’t sustain it for full four quarters. St. Mary’s outscored Park, 11-4, in the third quarter, after switching from “man-to-man” defense to a half-court 1-2-2 zone. The visitors took a 28-24 lead into the final quarter and extended it. Park cut the deficit to four points with about three minutes to go, but it was as close as they would get after the Saints responded with a couple of big shots down the stretch.
Melanie Mocniak, who’s headed to Mount St. Mary’s, finished with three three-pointers with sister Sam, a freshman, adding nine with a pair of three-pointers. Another sister act contributed 16 points as sophomore Jennifer Broussard added six to go along with Kelly’s 10.
Townes, a sophomore forward, led the Bruins with 12 points, while Coll had 11 and sophomore guard Zoe Mayers finished with seven.
As the regular season heads into its final week, St. Mary’s will host St. Paul’s School Monday, while Park will visit John Carroll Wednesday.
