Altamont girls basketball guard and recent Illinois State signee Grace Nelson long ago cemented herself in the Altamont High School record books, as she reached 1,000 career points. Then she did it again as she surpassed 1,500 career points and then became the all-time leading scorer for girls or boys at ACHS. Monday night, she added another rung in her ladder of personal success as she surpassed the 2,000 career point milestone in the Lady Indians win over St. Anthony at the Enlow Center in Effingham. Just over two and a half minutes into the third quarter, with Altamont on defense, Libby Reardon would tip a St. Anthony pass into the hands of teammate Claire Boehm who would see the floor and find Nelson releasing up the far sideline and Nelson would take it in for the layup to give her career points #2000 and #2001. Nelson said she tried to come into the game just playing her normal game and help her team however she could and gave credit to her teammates for how they have helped her achieve this and other milestones.
As she has progressed through her high school career, Nelson has been an athlete who sets certain goals and milestones she wants to reach. After surpassing 2,000 career points and whether 2,500 might be a goal to reach before the end of her senior year, Nelson says she isn’t worried about the points, she’s just enjoying the ride this year after her season was cut short just a year ago.
Whether Nelson reaches 2,500 points or not, she has put together one of the best high school scoring careers in school and IHSA history. The COVID year of 2020-2021 had Altamont playing only 15 games that season, 31 games her sophomore season and Nelson played just 13 games her junior season last year before suffering the ACL tear. That puts Nelson’s 2,000 point career mark coming at just 66 games into her career and putting Nelson at an average of 30.6 career points per game which would put her in the top 10 all-time for scoring average and also which she is on track to reach again this season as she sits at 31.6 points per game through 7 games played. While her previous three seasons came under the coaching of Katie Lurkins, this season has been a change for Nelson and the Lady Indians as they are now under the leadership of new Coach Craig Carr. After many years of experience coaching boys basketball in various capacities and retiring as Athletic Director of Newton High School, Carr says being able to come to Altamont and be around and coach Nelson this season has been a privilege.
As for the rest of the season, Nelson says her and her fellow seniors and teammates have adjusted well to the change and they feel this year is their year.
Nelson and the Lady Indians currently stand at 5-2 on the season having went through some early tests to get themselves to 3-0 in the National Trail Conference and having their only losses of the season coming to 3A Effingham and 2A Newton. Next up for them will be a non-conference matchup at home with Nokomis on Thursday and then they will get back into NTC play next week with games against North Clay and CHBC as they try to stay atop the NTC standings.
