Winthrop girls hoop star Courtney Finn nears 1,000th career point

When the Winthrop High girls basketball team rides into Lynn tonight, its mission will be to leave with a win over Classical.The only thing that would make the trek even sweeter for the Vikings and their coach, Peter Grimes, would be for guard Courtney Finn to reach a personal milestone. Finn is only a junior, but heading into tonight’s game she only needs 17 points to reach 1,000 for her career.”Our biggest focus will be to win the game,” Grimes said. “With the supporting cast that we have, we’re hoping to make it (Finn’s milestone) a team effort.”Finn, her older sister Kristen, Nicole Giaquinto and Katarina Mallios have been the backbone of a team that has gone 49-6 the last three years. Winthrop started to do damage in the Northeastern Conference when Kristen Finn and Giaquinto were freshmen, and with the addition of Courtney Finn, Mallios and Meredith Soper the following year, the Vikings became nearly unstoppable. Soper transferred to Arlington Catholic this year, but the remaining four have seemingly picked up the slack along with other members of the team.”I’m excited about reaching 1,000 points soon,” Finn said. “But I owe credit to my teammates. I couldn’t do it without them, especially my sister Kristen, Nicole Giaquinto and Katarina Mallios. We’ve basically been playing together since we were little.”Grimes said he started seeing Finn and the others play when she was in the sixth grade and he was working for the Parks and Recreation Department in town. He said when the Finns were younger, one or the other of them won the Elks state foul-shooting contest three out of four years.”She (Courtney Finn) is a special athlete all the way around,” Grimes said. “We’re lucky to have her in our program.””We don’t have a lot of kids, a lot of depth, but we have four horsemen. They’re our mainstays,” Grimes said. “They’re used to winning, and winning begets winning. It’s like money goes to the rich.”Although the Vikings only have one loss this season (to Swampscott), Grimes said tonight could be a tough game if Mallios is sidelined, which she might be, due to an injury. If Finn comes up short in her bid, she’ll try again on Friday, when the Vikings host English.”Courtney’s very gutsy. She takes a beating,” Grimes said. “There are kids bigger, kids stronger, but she has the whole package. She’s very, very competitive.”Finn has a few other things she’d like to accomplish while she’s at Winthrop High and one is to reach the TD BankNorth Garden. The Vikings previously made it to the North finals at the Tsongas Center, but the road ended there. She said it will be tougher without Soper, but she thinks the team still has the talent to get there.”It was obviously a big loss, losing her,” she said. “She’s an excellent player, but I think we’re going to do just fine. We’re working on it. We’re getting there. We’re making progress.”