Sports

Carey nets 1,000th point, leads Hill to consecutive wins

Kelsey Carey was expecting a foul, but got a milestone instead. The St. Joseph Hill junior caught the ball in the middle of the zone, faked one way and turned back in the other direction to put up what was a combination of a hook shot and a floater.

“It was kind of a tough shot and I actually thought the girl was going to foul me so kind of just threw it up there, but it went in and that was my 1,000th [point],” Carey said.

She reached the mark early in the second quarter, needing just 10 points to do so and now has 1,022 for her career. Carey went on to have a monster game, scoring a career-high 32 points to lead the Hilltoppers to a 45-38 win over host Amsterdam (N.Y.) at the Amsterdam Holiday College Showcase Wednesday night.

“It means a lot to me because people remember the people who scores 1,000 on Staten Island, so it’s a really big accomplishment to me,” she said.

The 5-foot-10 Carey, who scored 23 points on Tuesday in a win over Columbia of Albany, said she begged her teammates to ensure her 1,000th point came in a win. It was Hill’s second straight after losing their first six games. First-year Hilltoppers coach Jenny Driscoll has been impressed with Carey’s leadership since she took over and said she displayed it again on Wednesday by bringing her teammates together each time they went to the free throw line down the stretch.

“I think that is the best attribute that she has,” Driscoll said.

She feels the rest of the team ends up watching Carey, who has been asked to carry them at times, a responsibility she doesn’t mind. One of the city’s more underrated players, Carey has been a double-double waiting to happen since she took the floor as a freshman and continued her development this summer with the NYC Heat travel team.

“I think all of this is just all of her hard work,” Driscoll said. “She deserves everything she gets.”

Carey said she wasn’t nervous coming into the game, just excited. She hasn’t had time yet to reflect on what she has accomplished, but was enjoying the moment just the same.

““It’s amazing,” Carey said. “I couldn’t ask for it to happen any other way.”

jstaszewski@nypost.com