Placards are made.

The game is stopped briefly.

Pictures with family and friends are taken after the final buzzer.

It’s a big deal to the player who achieves it. It’s certainly a big deal to his or her family.

Yes, 1,000 career points is still a grand accomplishment for a high school basketball player, even though some grumble it may not be the monumental milestone that it once was.

Just this winter, six Butler County area players reached 1,000 career points.

At Freeport, two nearly did it on the same night — Harley Holloway reached the number against Fox Chapel, then Sidney Shemanski got her 1,000th point two nights later at home against Indiana.

Mars’ Bella Pelaia and Michael Carmody reached the mark relatively early in their senior seasons.

Karns City’s Chase Beighley and A-C Valley’s Levi Orton got to 1,000 during their junior campaigns.

Heck, even 2,000 points isn’t as rare as it once was.

Butler’s Ethan Morton accomplished that this season, becoming the seventh Butler County area player to reach that number since 2000.

The others? Mars’ Robby Carmody just two years ago, Cranberry Township native Brenna Wise at Vincentian, Sam Breen at North Catholic, Jence Rhoads at Slippery Rock and Stephan Graham and Abby Moose at Portersville Christian School.

Graham scored a whopping 2,420 points at Portersville and Moose 2,200.

So, yes, it may be easier to reach 1,000 points than ever before, but that doesn’t diminish what it takes to reach the century mark in scoring.

As Freeport boys basketball coach Wayne Greiser said, “Gotta still put the ball in the hoop.”

To get to 1,000, you need to be a good scorer.

It also helps to have plenty of opportunity.

Players are seeing the court sooner, which is increasing the number of 1,000-point scorers.

It used to be that unless you were a very special player, your sneakers never squeaked the varsity court as a freshman.

But now, more and more ninth-graders are not only seeing ample minutes, but are becoming key members of their teams.

Suddenly, a player only needs to average 11 points per game if they play in ever game over the course of a typical career to get there.

To do it in three years, that number jumps to 15.2.

Still, 11 points per game is a pretty healthy number, especially in defensive-oriented sections and leagues.

A lot of coaches would love to have players who average 11 points per game over the course of four seasons.

The Twitterverse seems to agree.

In a Twitter poll I conducted, it was a landslide as 85.7 percent thought reaching 1,000 career points was still grand.

I’m sure there will be a slew of area players who will reach the century mark next year and in the seasons that follow.

They should celebrate it because it is a big accomplishment, one that acknowledges consistency and skill.

So, to all the players who have reached the milestone, or who are approaching it, keep on scoring.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.