Imagine, if you will, being on the cusp of something great. Not just something great, but something that will leave your name etched into the history books forever.
 
Now imagine not knowing about it.

Welcome to the world of Yellowjacket women's basketball senior Hailey Kontny (Superior, Wis./Superior). Last Saturday in the Yellowjackets' win over Bethany Lutheran the Superior native became the tenth women's basketball player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
 
Yellowjacket Women's Basketball 1,000 Point Club
1,686 – Sally Linzmeier
1,300 – Sandy Eilertsen
1,262 – Tammy Moore
1,242 – Brenda Headrick
1,227 – Sherri Odlevak
1,183 – Connie Urmanski
1,077 – Mandy Giffen
1,057 – Hailey Hart
1,001 – Stephanie Janigo
1,000 – Kontny
 
"I knew I was close. I had people telling me I was close to it – my teammates, my family, people on campus, but I never knew what the number was," Kontny said. "And I didn't want to know. I didn't want to be thinking about it and start forcing things. I just wanted to play and have it happen naturally."
 
The number, if you're interested, was 27 entering Saturday's contest. Kontny ticked more than half of those off in the opening 20 minutes, and needed just a dozen points after halftime.
 
"When we went to the locker room and knew she only needed 12 points, we decided that we were going to get it done," said Yellowjacket Head Coach Zach Otto-Fisher. "It was important to me that she got to do this at home in front of her friends and family."
 
As the third quarter unfolded Kontny and the Yellowjackets continued to rack up points and increase the lead over the Vikings, and in the process the audible buzz in the building continued to increase.
 
Kontny was getting closer to the milestone.
 
In the fourth quarter the game was no longer in doubt, but Kontny was still a couple of points shy of 1,000 when Otto-Fisher called a timeout.
 
"I brought the team into the huddle and said 'Hailey you're two points away from 1,000, so we're going to draw up a play for you and you're going to score," Otto-Fisher said. "And her response was basically, 'No'."
 
"It was a surprise to me that I was just two points away. I wasn't keeping track. And I didn't want it to be about me. I didn't want anything to be forced like that. I wanted it to happen naturally," Kontny said. "Coach wouldn't listen to me. He said we were doing it and drew up a play so that it could happen.
 
"And we turned it over."
 
Added Otto-Fisher, "I had everything ready to go and we had a play drawn up that was going to get her the ball and then we turned it over. We threw the ball away."
 
On the next series, though, with 6:14 to play in the game, things went as planned. Fellow senior Justine Larson (Stanchfield, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) started the play with a steal and then fed a pass to Kontny who laid it in, giving her points 999 and 1,000.
 
With the crowd rising to its feet, Otto-Fisher immediately called timeout.
 
"It's not easy to score 1,000 points at any level. It's an accomplishment and one that she did in just two-and-a-half years. It needed to be celebrated so I wanted to take the timeout so she could enjoy it," Otto-Fisher said. "It was her moment and I told her that I wanted her to enjoy it with her teammates and in front of the people here in Superior that were important to her.

"And then I told her that I was taking her out of the game," he said with a laugh. "She was okay with it."
 
When she realized what she had just accomplished, Kontny broke down.
 
"The tears came for a couple of reasons. There were tears because you think of all the hard work, of all the shots you take and the time you spend practicing," Kontny said. "The tears were also there because I did it at home. It was very special to do it in front of people that are so important to me."
 
The role her teammates played in the milestone is not lost on her.
 
"This is all about my teammates. This doesn't mean anything if I don't have them here with me. I don't score a single point without all of my teammates here to help me along the way," she said. "So I get to say that I scored 1,000 points, but this says more about my teammates than it does about me."
 
With the milestone out of the way, Kontny will without a doubt continue to climb the Yellowjacket all-time scoring chart, but that journey means nothing compared to the journey she is sharing with the team.
 
"It's been a fun ride so far this year. The atmosphere surrounding our team has been great so far this year and we're excited for what's coming next," she said. "We have a conference championship to defend. We have a playoff championship to defend. We want to get back to the NCAA tournament and make it at least one game further. We're doing what we need to do to accomplish that. The work we do every day is to help us reach that final goal and hopefully set us off on a longer playoff run."
 
Accomplishments of conference championships and NCAA tournament runs – these are the kind that definitely won't sneak up on Kontny and the rest of the Yellowjackets.