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SOUTHINGTON - What's better than watching the senior leader of your team go over 1,000 points for her high school career?

Watching your senior leader go over 1,000 points for her high school career and absolutely dominating your opponent into near submission on your home floor.

Such was the case Thursday night for the Southington girls basketball team and its fans, who got to witness the 1,000-point milestone fall for Kaylynn Barco and a Wildcat rampage against a Grand Valley team that didn't look like they knew what hit them, as the winless Mustangs fell to Southington, 74-30.

"It feels phenomenal," Barco said about her team's top-notch performance. "I wasn't really worried about getting my 1,000 (points) tonight, that comes with whatever you do. But my girls stepped it up tonight. Not only did the varsity do (well), but the freshman and sophomores came in and just stepped it up and took it away."

Barco's 1,000th point came in not exactly the most epic of fashions, but in a way, that almost seemed befitting of her workman-like effort for the last four years.

With 4:45 remaining in the second quarter, Barco was fouled while driving and went to the foul line needing only one more point to hit the millennium mark. She casually tossed the shot in, swishing it, then proceeded to also make the second after a short announcement of her accomplishment.

Barco became just the fourth player in Southington girls basketball history to score 1,000 points.

"I feel like I'm on top of the world right now, I feel like I'm on cloud nine," Barco said. "I have the best team in the world, I have a great coach, nothing can bring me down right now."

Southington coach Melissa Wilthew spoke about having the kind of player Barco is on her team, which is slowly climbing back after a rocky start to the season and her coaching tenure.

"(Kaylynn) is great," Wilthew said. "Her and I have clicked since day one. She had to understand where I was coming from at times because things have changed a little bit for her, but she's really matured as a player and as a young lady and I'm proud to be a part of that."

Not only did Barco eclipse the 1,000-point mark - reaching 1,008 by the end of the game - and lead the game in scoring with 17, she also got near a triple-double with a game-highs in steals (8) and assists (7). Barco also made the only 3-pointer in the game as both teams combined for a 1-for-25 effort from deep, with the Mustangs (0-11) accounting for 21 misses.

Aside from Barco's accomplishment and the notoriety it caused, the Wildcats made sure that the talented senior did not get her achievement in a losing effort. Southington came out on fire on both ends, scorching the nets on their end and clamping down defensively on GV like a vice grip, which created a 14-0 run to start the game. From there, the Wildcats never looked back.

"We (wanted to run them out of the building from the start)," Barco said of her team's 14-0 opening run. "We (had) fans in here, we had other teams watching us, we wanted to put on a show. And once you get on a run, you just have to go and once you get to that level, you just have to keep pushing it strong."

Numerous other Wildcats stepped up in big ways on a night that saw every Southington player who checked into the game score at least two points. Both Rebecca Wolke and Miranda Gallo recorded double-doubles, with Wolke putting in 17 points and Gallo adding 12, with both recording 11 boards. Haley Hancovsky also scored in double digits for Southington with 11.

For the Mustangs, nothing seemed to be going right and the only real bright spot for GV seemed to be the play of their tenacious junior varsity, which finished out the fourth quarter with 12 points, the Mustangs' most productive quarter on the night.

"We're a young group," Mustangs coach Kim Triskett said. "So we have to continue to work and use each game as a stepping stone to build on and get better."

The Mustangs did not have a scorer in double figures, with Kayla Sirrine leading GV?with eight points. Also big for the Mustangs was Bailey Holmes, who only had six points, but led the game with 16 rebounds.

sports@tribtoday.com