CHERRY TWP — The second-busiest person in the Moniteau gym Wednesday night was the high school boy in charge of ripping numbers off a placard that counted down to 1,000 career points for Alazia Greaves.

The busiest person in the gym was Alazia Greaves.

She gave the young man and the A-C Valley girls basketball team quite a workout.

Greaves scored 44 points, the most of any Warrior girls player since 2001 and thought to be a school record, as Moniteau rolled to an 81-54 win over the Falcons.

Greaves began the night needing 59 points for 1,000. She's now just 15 shy.

There are a ton of discarded numbers off that placard to prove it.

“Yeah, I was (watching the numbers come off the board),” Greaves said, smiling. “It's very exciting and overwhelming. I didn't know I had 44 points. That's pretty crazy.”

Crazier still is the evolution of Greaves as a player.

As a freshman starter for Moniteau, Greaves was a defensive specialist and often limited the opponent's top scorer to far less than her average.

On the offensive end, though, anything Greaves contributed was a bonus and she averaged less than eight points per game during her first two seasons.

The last two years, however, she has become a scoring dynamo.

Greaves averaged 14 points per game last season and is putting up 18.1 per contest this season.

In her last five games, Greaves is averaging 27 per game.

“I feel like I've gotten a little faster this year and pushing the ball up the court has really helped,” Greaves said. “Our press has gotten a lot better, so we've gotten a lot more steals and I've been going to the hoop and the line more.”

Greaves was 15-of-28 shooting from the field and 13-of-16 from the line against A-C Valley.

She was also the beneficiary of a slew of turnovers. The Falcons committed 33 in the game.

“We're a totally different team than we were,” said Moniteau coach Dee Arblaster. “Our press has been way more effective.”

Greaves said the Moniteau gameplan was simple.

“Just run them off the court,” she said.

Moniteau (16-2) did that for the most part, but A-C Valley (10-7) hung around, trailing by just nine late in the third quarter.

The Warriors, though, pushed that lead to 59-41 by the end of the third and kept the foot on the gas in the fourth quarter to cruise to the win.

“We tend to play a little fast,” said A-C Valley coach Dave Sherman. “I want them to play fast, but sometimes the decision-making is a little shaky and we get a little off-balance.

“We don't always value possessions enough.”

Ellie Thompson scored 23 points to lead the Falcons. The junior forward was in a battle all night with Moniteau senior Kristina DeMatteis, who also scored 23 points.

The two combined to commit seven fouls on a night that was littered with them in a physical game.

Greaves, though, stole the show.

She said she never thought she'd even sniff 1,000 career points after her first two seasons.

“It's crazy how much has changed since being in the ninth grade and being strictly defense, being that 'defensive specialist,' as everyone called me,” Greaves said. “Now I'm scoring like 30 points a game.

“Just having six or eight points per game and people being happy about that, I didn't think about 1,000 points at all,” Greaves added. “It's just crazy that it'll actually happen.”

Greaves said it will have an even greater meaning because DeMatteis reached that milestone earlier in the season.

“She's my best friend,” Greaves said. “So it's even more special when it happens.”

A-C VALLEY 54

Cami McNany 1-2 2-4 4, Ellie Thompson 7-13 9-13 23, Annie Viertel 1-5 0-0 2, Olivia Boocks 3-13 4-6 12, Kylee Eaton 3-5 3-7 9, Brook Irwin 2-3 0-2 4, Allie Sherman 0-0 0-0 0, Madelyn Dittman 0-1 0-0 0, Emma Fox 0-1 0-1 0. Totals: 17-43 18-32 54.

MONITEAU 81

Cambrie Campbell 3-7 2-3 8, Kristina DeMatteis 9-22 5-5 23, Sara Hull 2-5 1-2 5, Makayla King 0-2 0-1 0, Alazia Greaves 15-28 13-16 44, Andie Arblaster 0-1 0-0 0, Izzy Bair 0-1 1-4 1. Totals: 29-64 22-31 81.

A-C Valley 15 13 13 13 — 54

Moniteau24 16 19 22 — 81

3-point goals: A-C Valley 2 (Boocks 2); Moniteau 1 (Greaves)

Friday: A-C Valley at Redbank Valley; Moniteau at Keystone