Nicole Boudreau joined exclusive company in Massachusetts when she scored her 2,000th career point for the undefeated Andover High girls basketball team.
File photo by Mike Braca
Everything stops when there is a perceived end.
But when you're Boston College recruit
Nicole Boudreau, leader of the
No. 53-ranked team in the MaxPreps Freeman Rankings, there are still goals left to achieve.
On Friday, the
Andover (Mass.) star netted the 2,000th point of her high school career while hounded under the rim by a host of defenders. Immediately, family and friends stormed the court, interrupting for a moment what has been a masterful journey that has been marked by success after success for the three-year star.
Nicole Boudreau
File photo by Mike Braca
She posed for pictures and received a bouquet of flowers as she was honored for her achievements. This season, Boudreau is averaging 22 points per game, 8.1 rebounds and is 32.7 percent from 3-point range. She signed her National Letter of Intent in November and has a full scholarship to Boston College.
And yet, despite the opportunity to look back at what she has done, Boudreau has her eyes set on what she can do next: a third-straight Division 1 state title that would surely place her in the pantheon of Massachusetts' most-celebrated high school basketball players.
"We know [2,000 points] is not what counts right now," Boudreau said a day prior to taking the court. "We're gunning for another state title."
Her 32 points Friday night against league rival Central Catholic gave Boudreau 2,019 points in her career. Only 59 other Massachusetts players, both boys and girls, have reached the 2,000-point threshold. The milestone, and Andover's 73-57 win that came along with it, punctuated her team's undefeated run in the Merrimack Valley League.
At 20-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state in the Freeman Rankings, the Golden Warriors are primed to defend their state title. But despite being the odds-on favorites with a bull's-eye on their backs, Boudreau and her teammates have somehow found a way to motivate themselves this season to keep a mental edge on their opponents.
Boudreau points to the loss of guard Natalie Gomez, a pivotal part of the Golden Warriors' two state titles. Gomez is now a freshman guard at Marist College.
Nicole Boudreau
File photo by Mike Braca
"We're the hunted ones. Everyone's hunting for us," Boudreau said. "We want to prove that yeah we lost Natalie, but we're still a great team and we can still win basketball games.
"We miss her a ton," Boudreau continued. "I'm feeling it, having to take the ball up now as point guard. I definitely have more respect for her having to play defense against their point guard. But I think a lot of people, Allie [Fazio] and Devon [Caveney], really had to step up. There were some question marks if we were gonna be the same team without her. I think, especially Devon, has been able to play better. So we kinda did want to prove that, yeah Natalie's an awesome player, she got us two championships, but we want to prove we can get one without her."
Now the question for Boudreau, Fazio, Caveney and the rest of the Andover Golden Warriors, is whether or not they can sustain their success through the state tournament.
"You could have one bad game and you're out," she said. "As long as we're playing together, we trust each other. Hopefully we'll be OK."
Scoring 2,000 points was a milestone, but Boudreau's journey isn't over.
Zuri Berry is a sports writer and producer for the Boston Globe and Boston.com. He's covered high school sports in California and Massachusetts for the past 10 years. You can follow him on Twitter @zuriberry, and reach him via e-mail at zuri@zuriberry.com.
