LYNN — Classical senior Paris Wilkey is attempting to do something only four other girls in the school’s history have done — reach the 1,000 point plateau.
Should she accomplish the feat this week (she needs 18 points, and the Rams will play at home against Somerville Wednesday), she will join luminaries such as Michelle Smith, Nicole Foisset, current Classical assistant coach Helen Ridley and Monique Lee, the last person to eclipse the millennial mark.
“It is a significant accomplishment,” said Rams head coach Tom Sawyer, “and it brings heightened importance when you’ve had so few girls in the history of the school do it. It’s not easily done.”
Going into her junior year, Wilkey had tallied 470 career points. But she hit the scoring jackpot in her junior season, with 408 points.
“She had a tremendous year last year,” Sawyer said. “Every year, she has improved her game. That was the case this year as well.
“It directly correlates to the hard work she puts in in the off-season,” Sawyer said. “She is one of the most dedicated players I’ve ever had my coaching career, in terms of working on her game in the off-season.”
Aside from the usual AAU off-season commitments, Wilkey “will find an open gym and, typically with her father, will go in and work on her game. It’s a combination of organized all and what I’d all old-fashioned, get-in-the-gym work on your game.”
Wilkey says she began playing basketball when she was in the third grade, and has loved it ever since.
“I fell in love with it,” Wilkey said. “I’ve played every single year up to now. Elementary, middle school … I just fell in love with it, and I was willing to spend a lot of time getting better.”
And that’s something Sawyer noticed about her right away.
“I could tell right away that she really enjoyed the game, and wasn’t afraid of hard work,” Sawyer said. “My experience has been that if you combine that with some natural ability, you have a good recipe for success.”
But that’s not where it ends with Wilkey. She has always understood that grades are a big part of why she was signed, sealed and delivered to Division II Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire before the season even started.
“She’s a very good student,” said Sawyer. “She takes it very seriously. She challenges herself with honors and AP courses, and has been doing that right from freshman year. Her parents set a very good foundation for her, and that has not wavered in the four years she’s been at Classical.”
Wilkey’s diligence paid off in a rather curious way, she said.
“I’ve always made sure my grades came first,” she said. “Without academics there would be no sports. There are times I could have gone out (with friends), but I’ve chosen to either study or work out. That’s not something I felt I had to do, but that I wanted to do.”
This hit her, she said, when she was accepted at Franklin Pierce, when she was told by the admissions department that she’d have been eligible for a partial scholarship even without the basketball.
“Grades are important,” she said. “You always want something to fall back on. This time, it paid off.”
She says she has not given her impending milestone much thought.
“I try not to think about it,” she said. “Before the game, I’ll just do my routine. If I think about it, and have it on my mind, I’ll try to force things. Just do my routine, and score my average, and take it from there.
“My parents have always told me not to change my game,” she said, “and to focus on how I play.”
She knows that because she’s such a prolific scorer that opponents will devise all kinds of ways to shut her down.
“I feel I have ways to get around that,” she said. “And if my teammates are open, all the better. Then opponents will have to adjust.”
These days, Wilkey’s game is multi-faceted. She worked arduously on her jump shot so that now it’s one of the best around.
And, says Sawyer, “she can score from perimeter, from the post, out of bounds plays, putting rebounds back up. She’s developing different ways to score in order to help us win.
“When a team tries to take away one particular part of her game, she can go to other parts of her game and be successful with that,” Sawyer said.
