HORTONVILLE (NBC 26) — The word of the week for the Hortonville girls' basketball team is talent, and the Polar Bears certainly have it in senior Rainey Welson.
Welson joined an elite group Friday, reaching 2,000 career points.
"It was getting toward the end of the game, and knowing we had a game the next day, it was going to be her last minute," Head Coach A.C. Clouthier said. "I even told her, 'You've got one more shot at this thing.'"
Welson had already scored 40 points and needed just three more to hit the milestone.
"A.C. was confident in me the entire night," Welson said. "He was like, 'You're getting it tonight. No question about it.' I was like, 'A.C., 43 points is a lot.'"
Welson reached the 2,000-point mark on a step-back three.
"After I shot it, I legit looked around and was like, 'I just airballed it,'" Welson said. "I was ready to go down the court, but everybody erupted, and I went, 'I just made that.'"
Welson is the second player in the Fox Valley Association to reach 2,000 points, joining Neenah’s Allie Ziebell, who currently plays at UConn.
"I think a lot of kids strive to be her [Welson]," Clouthier said. "I hope a lot of them start to understand what it takes to be someone like her. Everyone is going to see all-time leading scorer, everyone is going to see 2,000 points, but no one gets to see the hours that she puts in outside of practice."
Welson has spent countless hours in the gym, which comes as no surprise since she has been surrounded by the game her entire life.
"I actually have three older siblings, and all three of them played basketball," Welson said. "So I’ve been in the gym since I was legit in a stroller."
She credits her physicality on the court to classic sibling rivalries while growing up.
"We had to ban basketball games during the holidays because we got too competitive," Welson said. "My sister and I—we're both physical. That’s part of why I’m so tough, because I had her beating me up in the driveway. Our parents had to call it. They were like, 'We can't have you guys getting hurt.'"
But it all paid off. Welson is committed to play Division I basketball at the University of Maryland and is looking forward to competing in the Big Ten.
Until then, she will continue to build on her impressive 2,000-point record as a Polar Bear.
