BASKETBALL: Wilce reaches 1,000-point milestone in Redbirds' rout of Du Quoin

West Frankfort's Kiarha Wilce reached the 1,000-point milestone for her career on Monday night, as the Lady Redbirds routed Du Quoin 61-33 on the road to improve to 8-0 on the season.

Wilce had fifteen of her seventeen points in the first half, and scored her 1,000th point on her second free throw attempt with 5:18 remaining in the third quarter.

"I had no idea, I started off scoring well in this game, but I didn't even think about it," Wilce said of the accomplishment. "It feels awesome, and it was kind of a surprise. I knew that maybe by the end of the year I could get 1,000 points, but I didn't know I was that close already."

Meanwhile, the Lady Indians struggled with turnovers and a short bench, as Kat Robinson (illness) and Hannah Baxter (injury) were both unavailable for the varsity game, and Jordyn Bullar (illness) played sparingly in the second half. Baxter suffered a cut on her arm during the junior varsity game, but shouldn't miss much time.

"The good news is we've got a game tomorrow, but then we're off until next week," said DHS coach Shawn File. "Hopefully (Baxter) only misses the one ball game, because we're short on guards right now."

"(West Frankfort is) a pretty good team, and they've beaten some good teams. They've played a lot of basketball together and it really shows. They made us commit a lot of turnovers, we just kicked the ball all over the place tonight."

West Frankfort put the game away early, as Wilce scored eleven points in the opening quarter and the Lady Redbirds raced out to a 25-11 lead.

Morgan Griffith, who led West Frankfort with 21 points, scored ten in each of the first two periods and helped the Lady Redbirds build an insurmountable 44-16 advantage by the break.

Cali Wright joined Wilce and Griffith in double figures with eleven points, eight coming in the third quarter.

Du Quoin was led in scoring by Alaina Caldwell and Katie Smith, both of whom had seven points in the losing effort. Bullar and Grace Haney each added six points, Emily Born had four, Mackenzie Jackson two and Summer Tucker had one.

Du Quoin (2-4, 0-1) plays at Pinckneyville (4-3, 1-0) on Tuesday night in a SIRR Mississippi Division matchup.