Emily Shreves (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

Emily Shreves scored 26 points to lead Empire past Amphitheater 74-39 late Wednesday night in what amounted to a normal game for the junior guard except this one put her over 1,000 career points – 1,023 to be exact.

Shreves became the first player in Empire history to pass the 1,000-point mark and she has a good shot at breaking 2,000 career points by the time she is done. At her rate of almost 19 points a game, it is conceivable she could end her junior year near or at 1,500 career points. The trick, however, will be her senior year when the Ravens are bumped from the 3A Conference to the 5A Conference.

“It will be a good test for our team next year,” Shreves said. “It is something we will have to come together to overcome. I know we will take on the challenge together.”

The Ravens are used to coming together on many levels. Shreves led the Ravens to their first playoff appearance in basketball last winter and she followed that up by batting .359 to help lead the softball team to a state championship in the spring, including 7-14 (.500) in the post season.

That softball team ended the regular season with a 12 seed but when on a roll and knocked off the fifth seed in the first round, the fourth seed in the quarterfinals, the top seed in the semifinals and the second seed in the state championship game. This is important to know because the Ravens play basketball in one of the most difficult regions with Tanque Verde, Pusch Ridge and Sabino expected to dominate the top. The Ravens will need to come together again.

Shreves entered the game against Amphitheater needing three points to reach 1,000 and she met that goal two minutes in, but the Panthers played tough in the early going and the Ravens held on to a 17-13 lead after the period.

The Ravens outscored Amphitheater 15-2 in the second quarter to take a 32-15 lead and that increased to 50-32 after three. Marina Lopez led the Panthers with 10 points, Anissa Gutierrez added eight and Macy Tukalav scored seven.

Shreves scored her 26 points, Makenzie Elkins scored 15 and Sarah Lewis had 13 for the Ravens.

“This was special because I was the first to do it here at Empire,” Shreves said. “I can move from this and concentrate on my other goals like making it to college and getting 2,000 points but I think we will have a good year this year also.”

Empire improved to 4-2 on the year but the next five games will be on the road starting with a trip to play at Casteel (3-0) on Friday night. Amphitheater fell to 0-2 and the Panthers will have another difficult game with a trip to Tanque Verde (5-1) slated for Friday night.