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Jenay Faulkner breaks Greencastle girls scoring record


Greencastle-Antrim girls basketball coach Mike Rhine had a stressful afternoon Friday.

Already anxious for his team's first home game of the season, Rhine arrived home to one daughter with pink eye and another needing to go to her own basketball practice.

Add to the fact that Rhine's star player, Jenay Faulkner, was within spitting distance of the Blue Devils' all-time girls scoring record, and Rhine needed to get out of the house.

He went for a drive and immediately looked at the clock, which glowed the numbers 4:44.

The time told him everything was going to be OK.

After a frustrating first half, Faulkner, Greencastle's No. 4, took off in the second half, breaking the much-anticipated record, and the Blue Devils rallied to beat James Buchanan, 44-37.

"That was God's way of saying, 'Knock it off, calm down, she's got it under control,'" Rhine said. 

That she did. Faulkner hit the magical 3-pointer midway through the third quarter to surpass the previous scoring record of 1,420, set in 1999 by Kylene Helman. 

"I was definitely thinking about it, but it wasn't my main focus," Faulkner said. "Winning is always the main focus, so we completed that goal." 

The chances of earning the win and getting Faulkner's record seemed frail after the first half, when the Rockets (0-5, 0-3 Mid Penn Colonial) led 20-12. The Blue Devils shot 4-for-24 (16.7%) from the field, and Faulkner had just six points to her name.

"I told her in the locker room, 'There's a fine line between being aggressive and wanting it too much,'" Rhine said. "She had to let it come to her. Things were not going well at all in the first half, but there is just something that kicks in with her. She realizes I've gotta do this, and I've gotta help that persona, and I've gotta raise everyone's level. I think you saw that tonight." 

Faulkner came out guns blazing in the third quarter, accounting for all 11 of G-A's points. Her third 3-pointer of the frame was all she needed to earn her spot atop the G-A record boards, but it didn't ensure a victory. The bucket cut JB's lead to 26-19.

Shortly after she broke the record, Rhine huddled up with the Blue Devils and had one message.

 

"He basically said, I got my points, so now we have to win to make it memorable," Faulkner said. "It wouldn't have meant anything if we lost the game." 

Greencastle (3-0, 1-0 MPC) responded, out-scoring James Buchanan 21-4 in the final period to keep its slate clean. 

Faulkner finished with 24 points and was just two rebounds and two steals shy of a triple-double.

The list of goals isn't over for the G-A senior, though. Faulkner is now just 183 points away from tying the all-time boys scoring record, and it's entirely possible she'll get there and more.

"We got her to the girls record, now she's gotta take the rest in her own hands," Rhine said. "If she stays healthy and gets help from her teammates, she can do it. Wouldn't that be a cool thing? She's started every game since she was a freshman, so it seems kind of destined to be." 

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Watch: Jenay Faulkner breaks Greencastle girls scoring record
Greencastle-Antrim's Jenay Faulkner is going down in the record books, as she is now the school's all-time leading girls scorer.
Video by Lizi Arbogast, GameTimePA.com