Emily Leer didn’t want to know how many points she needed to reach the elusive 1,000-point plateau when she took the court against William Tennent on Tuesday night.
The Abington senior found out anyway.
“The ref revealed the secret when I went into the captain’s huddle before the game,” Leer said with a laugh. “I didn’t want to know because I didn’t want to be counting in my head.”
Leer needed just six points, and the Ghosts’ gifted senior finally scored the historic basket from the low post in the second quarter of Abington’s 49-38 win over the Panthers.
“I was really off on Tuesday night,” Leer said. “Against Neshaminy on Friday night, I missed two shots.
“On Tuesday, I don’t know how many I missed. My shots weren’t dropping, so it took me a while to get it. The shots I always take – the little jumpers – weren’t falling for me, so I was getting frustrated. Finally, I got it in the second quarter.”
The game was halted as Leer was showered with balloons and flowers from friends and family who had turned out in force to support her.
“They all came running out,” she said. “It was exciting, but honestly, I was just like, ‘Can we get back to the game?’
Leer has always been about the game, and it is her passion for the sport that elevated her to such lofty heights.
Steve Chapman has been coaching Leer for six years as a member of his Fencor AAU team.
“When I saw some other players when they were 11 – you knew they were going to be really good players,” Chapman said. “When I saw Emily, I knew she was going to be tall. I didn’t know whether she would be a very good player or a great player.
“She has become a great player who was recruited by very high Division One programs through hard work, dedication and really a love of the game.”
Leer’s name will be added to the banner hanging in Abington’s gymnasium that recognizes the school’s thousand-point scorers. Her name will be directly below her sister’s.
Liz Leer is having a standout career at American University where the 6-2 junior forward is averaging 12.3 points a game and is the team leader in rebounds (6.8) and blocks (1.8) a game.
“I always expected to get it my junior year, but last year, I got injured,” said Leer, who missed eight games last season. “It was one of those things like playing college basketball that I always expected was going to happen for me and that someday I would be a good enough player to get a thousand points.”
Leer was easily good enough. Talk to any of her coaches, and they echo a similar refrain.
“Emily has worked real hard,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “She just wants to win.
“She likes the fact that she’s accomplished something like this, but ultimately, Emily wants to win, and that’s the only thing she cares about.”
Leer and her Ghost teammates haven’t lost this season. They are 5-0, and the 6-2 forward – who is equally comfortable in the low post or shooting from beyond the three-point arc - is the centerpiece of the squad.
In Tuesday’s win over Tennent, Leer had 21 points, 18 rebounds and four blocked shots. One day later, in Abington’s 59-57 win over Central Buck South, she had 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Those impressive numbers are all but routine for the senior star.
“Each year she has expanded her game,” Chapman said. “It’s not like shooting three pointers or handling the ball or playing facing the basket came easily, but she knew she had to do those things to complete her game, and she forced herself to go through the not fun part of working and not being immediately successful.
“She forced herself through those stages, so that she could get to the point where it became hers, and that ownership level became higher and higher.”
Leer, according to Chapman, is more than just an outstanding basketball player.
“She is a terrific young lady who has her head squarely on, who has great perspective about where basketball fits with education and life and who has conquered this area as much as she can for her age and is filled with confidence that she can do that in other areas of life going forward,” he said. “She’s so coachable.
“I’m so proud of her and whether she had gotten that (1,000-points) or not, she’s a great player, but those signposts along the way are nice too.”
In an interesting sidenote, 24 hours after Leer reached the 1,000-point mark, her longtime Fencor AAU teammate and Methacton standout Lauren Ruhl also surpassed that milestone.
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