Maya Llanes’ 17 point performance Friday night was good enough to lead all scorers and place her in the history books as one of just five 1,000-point scorers in Zephyrhills girls’ basketball history.
The senior guard saw her milestone achievement come in the Lady Bulldogs’ 57-34 loss to Wesley Chapel. She needed just 12 points Friday night to reach the 1,000-point milestone. She had a slow start with four points in the first half as the Bulldogs trailed 34-10 at halftime. She scored nine of the Bulldogs 14 points in the third quarter.
“I didn’t know I had it until they stopped the game,” Llanes said. “There was so much support for me in the stands tonight. My first instinct was to run to my mom. It was nice to be able to do this with my whole family watching me.”
The game was stopped at the 1:10 mark of the third when Llanes went over 1,000 points for her career. She was swarmed by teammates, and then later family and friends. She was presented with a banner and a ball commemorating the feat.
“That is a big accomplishment to get 1,000 points. You don’t see that a lot,” said head coach Chris Smith. “She deserves it. She works for every point she has. She is the one player on this team that doesn’t back down. She steps up every game and puts everything out there on the floor.”
Llanes joins Tawnya Booker, Jeanine Boyd, Jill Sanders and Brandy Mays in the ZHS girls’ basketball 1,000-point club.
Booker was sitting at the scorer’s with a front row seat to history being made in the same gym she eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in 1993.
“When she scored that basket, I was crying my eyes out,” said Booker, who was teammates with Sanders under Coach Ernie Pittman when they both reached the century mark. “I didn’t know about my 1,000 points. Coach Pittman didn’t tell me. This was a special night for Maya. It’s a night she won’t forget.”
To add to the magic of the night, Wesley Chapel’s Sacoya Burgess reached the 1,000-point mark as well. The game was again stopped and Burgess was presented with a framed print. Llanes and Burgess met together at half court to an ovation from the crowd.