Kourtney Rhoads

SLIPPERY ROCK — Kourtney Rhoads clutched a glass jar containing 1,000 Skittles.

Well, make that slightly fewer than 1,000 Skittles.

"I ate some of them already," said the Slippery Rock High senior guard.

Luckily, the subtracted candy won't be counted against her.

The Skittles represented 1,000 points — a milestone Rhoads slashed and shot her way to in a 31-point effort against Oil City Friday night.

The final score seemed an afterthought: Slippery Rock 73, Oil City 21. The only number on anyone's mind was 1,000.

"It's been my goal ever since I started playing basketball," Rhoads said. "Finally doing it feels

so good."Rhoads joins elder sister Jence and twin sister Karly in the 1,000-point club at Slippery Rock.Jence scored 2,170 points in her career; Karly reached the plateau last season and, with nine points Friday against the Oilers, now has 1,299.Kourtney, who notched her 1,000th point at the free throw line in the fourth quarter of the rout, has 1,001.If you are keeping track at home, that's 4,470 career points for the Rhoads sisters."All three of them have been successful here and all three of them are completely different people," said Slippery Rock girls basketball coach Adrienne Orris, who became the Rockets' coach before Jence's senior year and Karly and Kourtney's freshman season. "It's been a ride we've been on."The ride on Friday had very few bumps.Kourtney scored seven points in the first quarter, nine in the second, 10 in the third and five in the fourth.A sign on the wall behind the home basket counted down her point total from the 970 she started out with against Oil City."My teammates helped out a lot, obviously," Kourtney said. "I usually don't score 30 points, but they were always passing it (to me) tonight. They really had my back."The only threat to Kourtney reaching the milestone was the mercy clock.Slippery Rock (10-1, 4-0) went up 58-17 late in the third quarter, triggering the 40-point mercy rule.Kourtney hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give her 995 career points, but with the fourth quarter clock running, it was a race against time.And one Oil City coach Tom Bodamer seethed about on the bench."I have nothing to say about it," Bodamer said after the game. "I have no comment about it."Orris said the team wanted Kourtney to reach the milestone at home. The Rockets play at Sharon and Grove City next week before returning home to host Hickory Jan. 25."I never said anything to my girls before the game," Orris said. "Kourtney had over 30 points today, but she was over 30 points because she has great, unselfish teammates."BoysAlec McDeavitt had a good look at the basket.The shot simply didn't fall.Trailing Oil City 50-48 with less than 10 seconds remaining, McDeavitt squared up for a 3-pointer, took the shot and watched as it clanked off the back of the rim.It was a tough two-point loss for the Rockets (4-6, 0-4)."It's no secret Region 5 may be one of the best regions (in District 10), Quad-A right down to single-A," said Slippery Rock boys basketball coach Phil Bushre. "I thought we did a lot of good things."Slippery Rock led by three points after three quarters, then had to rally to tie the score at 48 when Ryan Gordon hit a 3-pointer with 1:10 remaining in the game.But Oil City's Dallas Williams answered with a layup with 41 seconds left, and after setting up a final shot by McDeavitt, the Rockets weren't able to convert.Slippery Rock was playing without leading scorer Brian Giesler, who sprained his ankle late in practice Thursday.But McDeavitt filled the void with 15 points. Gordon added 14.

GirlsOIL CITY 21Santana Held 0-0 0-0 0, Erica Wassil 0-1 0-0 0, Becca Weidle 1-5 0-0 2, Mya Hidinger 1-5 3-6 6, Katie Plumer 0-1 0-0 0, Katie Wenner 1-4 0-0 2, Chelsea Hall 1-5 4-4 6, Jessica Van Atta 0-0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Knight 2-5 0-0 4.

Totals: 6-26 7-10 21.

SLIPPERY ROCK 73Karly Rhoads 4-6 0-0 9, Ali Doyle 0-0 0-0 0, Kourtney Rhoads 12-27 2-3 31, Adele Campbell 4-6 4-4 12, Sarah Cessar 2-6 0-0 5, Taylor Crocker 2-5 0-0 5, Bre Northcott 4-7 0-0 8, Molly Weitzel 1-2 0-0 2, Jackie Basta 0-1 0-0 0, Morgan Siebka 0-2 1-2 1, Michelle Hartzell 0-0 0-0 0, Haley Angerett 0-0 0-0 0, Ellie Shaw 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 29-62 7-9 73.

Oil City 8 7 4 2—21Slippery Rock 27 16 18 12—733-point goals: Oil City 2 (Hidinger, Hall); Slippery Rock 8 (Ka. Rhoads, Ko. Rhoads 5, Cessar, Crocker).

Monday: Slippery Rock at Sharon

BoysOIL CITY 50Jake Davis 4-10 5-7 15, Stephen May 1-4 0-0 2, Dallas Williams 2-4 3-7 7, Blake Hadley 3-3 2-2 8, Nate Davis 1-6 0-5 2, Danny Yarnell 2-2 0-0 5, Jeff Zimoski 3-7 0-0 6, Steve McCauley 1-3 2-3 4, Guy Dodge 1-3 1-3 3.

Totals: 18-42 13-27 50.

SLIPPERY ROCK 48Brett Ayers 2-7 1-2 5, Justin Bennett 1-4 2-4 4, Ryan Gordon 5-17 3-4 14, Alec McDeavitt 6-13 0-2 15, Andrew Waryanka 1-2 0-0 2, Caleb Whitney 2-2 0-0 4, Ryan Thompson 2-3 0-0 4, Sean White 0-2 0-0 0.

Totals: 19-51 6-12 48.

Oil City 13 9 11 17—50Slippery Rock 13 12 11 12—483-point goals: Oil City 1 (Yarnell); Slippery Rock 4 (Gordon, McDeavitt 3).

Tuesday: Slippery Rock at Sharon