Chase Anderson makes it rain. (Julie Wheat photo)
It’s a milestone reached by very few.
Coupeville High School boys’ basketball debuted in 1917, with the Wolf girls finally getting to claim their share of the hardwood in 1974.
During that 109-year span, only 28 players have cracked the 700-point club — 22 boys and six girls — with the newest member joining the inner circle Tuesday night.
CHS senior Chase Anderson tallied 20 points during a win in Concrete, pushing him to 709 for his career, with more than half of his final campaign remaining to be played.
How rare is entry in the 700 Club?
So far, I’ve been able to document 687 Wolves who scored in a varsity game — 432 boys and 255 girls — with just 4% of those players reaching the mark.
While there is still a chunk of (really) old-school CHS boys (think the 1920’s through the 1940’s) whose scoring contributions are lost to time, no one back in that time period remotely scored at the kind of clip needed to amass 700 points.
Barring a pile of ancient scorebooks being discovered in a barn loft someday, we’ll never have a 100% complete record, but our count of 28 players seems pretty set in stone — at least until the next great scorer comes along.
Who will that be?
Likely no one currently playing at the high school level, as the next leading active scorers are Teagan Calkins (281 points) and Camden Glover (195), who are both seniors.
After that comes junior Haylee Armstrong (148) and sophomore Tenley Stuurmans (103), who would both need to ramp up their pace considerably.
Getting to 700 (or more) takes skill, but it also takes luck.
Injuries alter careers, the pandemic threw everything asunder, and playing time is a tricky beast.
For every player who hits varsity on day one as a freshman, has a green light to shoot, and plays for teams which make long state runs each season, there’s an equally talented scorer caught in a number’s game who doesn’t get let loose until their senior season.
Hello, Allen Black.
While we wait for that 29th player to emerge — and they will at some point, likely when we least expect it — what about Anderson?
Now that he’s in the 700-Point Club, there are still higher rungs to reach.
The 800-Point Club has 21 members, while the 900-Point Club goes 13 deep. Get really hot over the remainder of the season and the 1,000-Point Club, home to just 10 Wolves, beckons.
Let the nets bounce!
CHS Basketball 700-Point Club:
Brianne King – 1549
Logan Downes – 1305
Zenovia Barron – 1270
Makana Stone – 1158
Mike Bagby – 1137
Jeff Stone – 1137
Randy Keefe – 1088
Megan Smith – 1042
Mike Criscoula – 1031
Jeff Rhubottom – 1012
Bill Riley – 934
Ann Pettit – 932
Pete Petrov – 917
Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby – 892
Brad Sherman – 874
Denny Clark – 869
Arik Garthwaite – 867
Bill Jarrell – 855
Hunter Smith – 847
Corey Cross – 811
Hawthorne Wolfe – 800
Jack Elzinga – 770
Barry Brown – 769
Hunter Hammer – 755
Steve Whitney – 730
Dan Nieder – 729
Tom Sahli – 719 (*Missing stats for his sophomore season in 1951-1952*)
Chase Anderson – 709 (*Active*)
