Boogaard Relishes Joining Exclusive 1,000 Point Club
Feb. 7, 2011
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
It’s a little over a thousand miles from Lawrence, Kansas to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. That means if every point senior Krysten Boogaard scored during her KU career counted for one mile, she would have practically shot her way to Allen Fieldhouse.
The 6-foot-5 center reached the elusive milestone Wednesday, Feb. 2 in Allen Fieldhouse in front of her home crowd. That’s where she stood at the free throw line and did what she had done so many times before; put the ball through the hoop.
“I knew I had to get a certain amount of points in the Colorado game to get my 1,000th point,” said Boogaard. “It was in the back of my mind, but it was just more about winning the game at that point than focusing on msyelf.”
Regardless of the score, the free throw was a long time coming for Boogaard’s teammates and coaching staff, who were counting down to the milestone with her each and every time she got the ball.
“It felt like we threw her a thousand balls to try and get her, her 1,000th point,” said head coach Bonnie Henrickson. “Everyone on the team was so excited for her to do it and wanted to be the one who threw it to her.”
Ultimately the milestone would be in her hands at the 11:20 mark of the second half as she sank both free throws to put her team up 23 points over the visiting Buffaloes and gave herself 1,001 points for her career.
“It was really special for me when I did get that free throw,” said Boogaard. “My teammates all stood up on the bench and were clapping and cheering because they all knew what had happened.”
One of those teammates cheering from the sidelines was sophomore forward Carolyn Davis, who often subs out of ball games for a breather, while the soon to be 23-year old Canadian takes the floor.
“It was a special moment,” said Davis. “I look up to her because she got me into the role I am in now by pushing me so hard last year. Now we will be able to look up on the wall, see her name and say that we played with her.”
The legacy that Boogaard is leaving behind once she walks down the hill this May is substantial. Not only is she the 22nd player in KU women’s history to achieve the mark of 1,000 points in a career, but she is only the third center to accomplish the feat and second true center.
“It feels really great to be on that wall with all the other great women who have come through here,” said Boogaard. “Lynette Woodard, Tamecka Dixon and Danielle McCray to name a few, it is pretty special to know my name will be up there too.”
The first of Boogaard’s 1,000-plus points in her KU career came back on November 11, 2007 when she was a freshman playing in her first ever game against the University of Hartford at Allen Fieldhouse. With just under six and a half minutes remaining in the first half, Boogaard took a pass from then sophomore guard Sade Morris and converted on a lay-up to put her team up 29-17, over the visiting Hawks. Fast forward three years and 1,005 points later and Boogaard can truly call herself one of the elite players to come through the Jayhawk women’s basketball program.
“It was a definite goal for me since I was a freshman,” said Boogaard. “It was in the back of my mind and I thought about it from time to time, but I don’t think looking back that I seriously would have thought that I could have made it.”
“She’s been a big part of what we do here,” said Henrickson. “It is nice for her to be able to reach that kind of milestone and finish her career here with that on her resume.”
That resume is one that Boogaard hopes can carry her to the professional ranks once she leaves Lawrence.
“After this year I want to go play in either Europe or Australia,” said Boogaard. “I’ve never been to Australia, but I’ve heard they have some really good professional teams there.”
As for her European connection, the first generation Canadian looks at playing there as more of a return home than a long vacation.
“Both my parents were born in Holland and moved to Canada before I was born,” said Boogaard. “I just got my Dutch passport in the fall, which would make it easier for me to play there, but it would also mean a lot to suit up for them and be around the culture that my family was born into.”
Before the Canadian turned Kansan can think about going back to her roots across the Atlantic, she has plenty of her senior season left to climb even farther toward the top of list of all-time scorers in program history.
With just 18 more points Boogaard would move into 21st place on the all-time list, passing fellow center Tracy Claxton (1980-82). With another 38, she would claim the 20th spot, eclipsing former KU forward Shebra Legrant (1979-81), who stands at 1,044 career points.
The senior center knows passing those names will require hard work, but she realizes she could have never reached the 1,000 point plateau without the many teammates she has played with past and present.
“Obviously I would not have been able to accomplish this without my teammates passing me the ball,” said Boogaard. “I don’t bring the ball down the court or pass it to myself, so I really look at it as a team accomplishment.”
“She has done it a lot of different ways,” said Henrickson. “She has played with a lot of good perimeter players who have allowed her room one-one-one. She has played in traffic, as well as man defenses and zone defenses and had to do it in so many ways, so it has not been easy.”
There have been exactly 209 players who have come through the KU women’s basketball program since it began in 1968. A little less than 11% of those women who played have actually reached the 1,000-point milestone. Krysten Boogaard can now include herself as one of those select few.
