Kenzie De Boer graduated from Lynden Christian in 2009 holding the girls' basketball team's record for career scoring with 1,589 points.

While it's extremely unlikely the 5-foot-11 senior guard will do the same once she wraps up her college basketball career at the University of Montana later this spring, her name is already etched among the greats for the Lady Grizz.

With seven points on Jan. 3, De Boer reached the 1,000-point plateau in her career.

"It means a lot, because only 29 people have ever done it in Lady Grizz history," De Boer said in a phone interview. "It's a big accomplishment, and I'm pretty proud of it."

Not that she did a whole lot of celebrating the fact, as she reached the mark in a last-second 58-56 loss at Eastern Washington.

"We were on the road, and it was a tough loss," De Boer said. "I was happy I made it, but it's nothing we celebrated all that much."

She had plenty of reason to celebrate two days later, though, as she scored 25 points in a 70-55 victory at Portland State.

Making the accomplishment even sweeter was the fact that she was going up against old Whatcom County friendly rival and Mount Baker alum Courtney VanBrocklin, who finished with a game-high 26 points.

"Courtney is still a really good friend of mine," De Boer said. "We have been since high school. We like to talk a lot on the court. She had a good game. After the game, we were talking, and she was trying to give me a hard time, telling me she scored one point more than me, but I was like, 'Yeah, but we got the win.'"

Getting the win is something De Boer and the Lady Grizz have been doing quite a bit this season.

They entered a Thursday, Jan. 10, game against North Dakota with a 9-4 mark and tied for second in the Big Sky at 3-1 in conference play.

"We've got everybody back but one player," De Boer said. "We've improved so much over last year. Our goal is to win the Big Sky title and go to the NCAA Tournament. We made it my sophomore year, but we didn't get to host (and lost 55-47 to UCLA in the first round). It would be really big to me and the other seniors on this team to go into the tournament as a high seed and get to host."

De Boer definitely will play a big role in helping the Lady Grizz chase that goal.

She entered Thursday leading the team with a career-high 14.4 points per game. She's shooting .432 from the floor (70 for 162) and has hit 10 of 32 shots from 3-point range (.313).

So far, she's scored in double figures in 10 of 13 games - giving her 52 in her career - and has been the team's leading scorer five times this season, including when she had a career-high 29 points against Wyoming on Dec. 6.

"There's definitely a little more pressure being the person everybody looks to, especially this year, being the leading scorer on the team," De Boer said. "I feel like I need to have a good game every time out. But we have a lot of good scorers on the team. Anybody can step up and lead us - it doesn't always have to be me. We've got a balanced team, and I think that is what makes us tough in general."

But to help make herself a more dependable scorer, De Boer said she put a lot of offseason work into her shot.

"Coach got on me that I used to fade away on my jump shot," De Boer said. "I wasn't going straight up and down, and that makes it harder to hit. I spent a lot of time focusing on that - I spent a lot of time on my shot overall, but I really focused on that."

The result is more than 31/2 points more per game over what she scored as a junior.

And don't forget reaching the 1,000-point plateau.

De Boer said she felt she had a shot to reach the mark entering the season, as she was only 162 points shy.

With 1,025 points, she currently sits 27th on the school's career scoring list.

Shannon Cate's 2,172 points from 1988-92 is probably an unrealistic mark to chase, but if De Boer continues to average 14.4 points per game, she would finish the regular season with 1,255, which would rank 11th all-time. Depending on how deep the Lady Grizz go into the postseason, a top-10 finish is certainly not out of the question - Sonya Rogers (2005-09) currently ranks 10th with 1,320 points.

"It's great to be up there, but I'm not all about scoring," De Boer said. "I'd trade all my points just to win the next game."

Fortunately, scoring is not the only way that De Boer impacts games for Montana.

In addition to being selected Academic All-Big Sky and honorable mention all-conference last year, she was voted the team's Outstanding Defensive Player.

De Boer entered Thursday fifth on the team in rebounds (3.5 per game), fifth in assists (1.4), fourth in steals (1.5) and fifth in blocked shots (0.3).

"I've really been focusing on my defense this year," De Boer said. "I want to do everything I can to finish my career strong."

That goes for her career in the classroom, as well.

De Boer said she only has two courses remaining to graduate, meaning she should have plenty of time to focus on an internship this spring with either the athletic department's compliance office or academic advising for students.

"I really love athletics," De Boer said. "I've been playing basketball for so long. It's going to be weird when I'm done. It's been fun, and it's something I hope to continue working in when I'm done with college. I want to help other athletes and still be around it all. Athletics has been such a big part of my life."

Reach David Rasbach at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or 360-715-2286.

DE BOER'S STATS

Entering Montana's game against North Dakota on Thursday, Jan. 10:

Avg. Avg. Avg.

Season G GS min. Pts. pts. reb. Ast. Blk. Stl.

2009-10 29 4 20.4 273 9.4 3.4 40 16 30

2010-11 30 23 25.5 240 8.0 3.2 60 13 54

2011-12 30 29 25.5 325 10.8 3.5 59 11 72

2012-13 13 13 26.3 187 14.4 3.5 18 4 19

Total 102 69 24.2 1,025 10.0 3.4 177 44 175

Reach DAVID RASBACH at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2271.