A pair of SOL seniors – CR South’s Nicole Blaustein and New Hope-Solebury’s Rachel Saxton – recently joined the 1,000-point club at their respective schools. Celebration photos provided by New Hope-Solebury basketball & CR South basketball. (Action photos were pre-COVID)
Nicole Blaustein and Rachel Saxton are in some elite company in their respective basketball programs. Blaustein is just the second player – male or female – to reach the 1,000-point milestone since Council Rock South opened its doors in 2002 while Saxton is the fifth female in program history at New Hope-Solebury to reach the milestone.
For both, the milestone represents four years of consistent performances. Both are invaluable members of their squads.
“Nicole has started for me since her freshman year,” Rock South coach Blair Klumpp said. “The original plan – at least from our standpoint – was to have her play off the ball. That year she proved to be our most consistent and capable ball handler, but I still viewed her as more of a combo guard and scoring guard.”
Blaustein scored 322 points and earned honorable mention all-league as a freshman, and she has been a fixture in the Golden Hawks’ backcourt for four years.
“I think the last two years in particular her growth as a player has been evident,” Klumpp said. “She’s improved defensively and become very disruptive on that end of the floor. She’s also showing a strong understanding of how she’s being guarded and why and showing a strong trust in her teammates and our game plans. She’s a great person, a great teammate and just a great player, and I’m happy she was able to reach that milestone.
“Her basketball accomplishments speak for themselves, but what’s most impressive about her is her overall character. She’s a tremendous representative of our program both in school and the community, and she is someone who is setting herself up for a very successful future and I am very proud of her on and off the court.”
A two-year captain, Blaustein reached the 1000-point milestone in Rock South’s home game against Neshaminy, scoring on a fast break layup with an assist from Karissa Smedley after a steal on the defensive end.
“I would have been happy however I scored it, but it was especially nice to get it on a fast break,” Blaustein said. “I got a nice assist from Karissa. That was definitely the cherry on top to get it on a nice layup.
“It was also really nice to get it on our home court with my parents there and my sister who was also able to come. This milestone is something I’ve been working towards for many years, and I definitely couldn’t have done it without my amazing teammates and coaches who really believed in me. Ever since I was a freshman, they really pushed me to improve and become better player, and that was definitely a big part of why I was able to do that this year.”
Blaustein joins Alex Wheatley, who went on to excel at Princeton University, as the lone players in school history to reach the milestone.
“That was another aspect that was really exciting to me was because it hadn’t been done many times before,” said Blaustein, who needed 108 points entering the season to reach the milestone. “It was kind of funny – it was almost an unspoken thing. It’s a little bit like - you don’t want to jinx yourself. You never know if there will be an outbreak and games could be shut down. I was especially paying attention the closer we got.”
Saxton reached the 1,000-point milestone in her team’s game against Upper Moreland.
“Rachel’s leadership and work ethic, along with her ability makes her a very special player, and I’m thrilled to coach her at New Hope,” coach Steve Polinsky said. “Rachel along with my other two seniors – Kate Dougherty and J Covino - are the cornerstone of our program.
“It means a lot to NHS basketball to have Rachel score a thousand points. I think it shows other players if you want to be that good you have to work, and Rachel really works at her game. We are all very proud of her and this big accomplishment.”
The senior captain was introduced to the idea of scoring a thousand points when she was a sophomore by then coach Andy Krasna, who informed her she was already past the halfway point.
“Before that, I never really gave it a thought,” said Saxton, who knew it was attainable after her junior season. “But coming into this season, I honestly didn’t even think we would have one with the pandemic and everything.
“Of course, a thousand points is a great thing to have happen, but the one thing that I just wanted to do was get on the court and play one last time with my teammates.”
Saxton entered the season needing 89 points to reach the 1000-point mark. She reached the elusive plateau on a 3-pointer.
“We were actually losing the game,” Saxton said. “My first reaction was – where’s my girl? I ran right up to her – I was so ready to play defense, and all my teammates ran up to me and hugged me.
“They had a banner, posters and candy. It was so nice, and I was so grateful for everything. It was also nice to do it at home.”
Saxton needed 15 points entering the Lions’ game against Upper Moreland.
“I knew they were a great team, and they have a great coach, so going into it, I wasn’t thinking how many points I needed to score,” Saxton said. “I wanted to get the win. I got my milestone, but a win would also have been great. It’s okay – we played hard, and we’ll face them again later in the season, so hopefully, we will get back at them.”
New Hope-Solebury will travel to Upper Moreland for a rematch on Thursday.
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