Skylar Allman knew as she drove to the basket for a second-quarter layup against Crosspointe Christian on Nov. 15 that she was about to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career.
She wasn’t ready for what happened after the ball went through the bottom of the net.
"I knew it was coming," Allman said of her 1,000th point, "but I didn’t know that everyone else knew that was there, so I didn’t expect anyone to jump up and have it video recorded and all that stuff.
"I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want anyone to know."
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What makes the milestone all the more impressive is that Allman is just approaching the midway point of her sophomore season with the Indianapolis HomeSchool Knights.
The Greenwood native is in her fourth year of varsity action, though — she’s been starting at guard for the Knights since she was in seventh grade.
Allman followed up her 1,000-point celebration by tying a career high two weeks later with 27 points against Horizon Christian. More important than the individual numbers, though, is her team’s success — the Knights, who posted 18-16 records in each of the last two seasons, are 6-2 heading into Friday night’s home game vs. Lighthouse Christian at The Gathering Place in Greenwood.
Though just a sophomore, Allman is being counted on to lead her team as a captain, and she’s responded.
Head coach Grace Mitchell credits the 5-foot-5 Allman, as well as fellow sophomore guard Stephanie Richards, for taking on a larger role than most underclassmen are asked to.
"It is a little bit different of a dynamic, just because they are still younger," Mitchell said, "but I think it just shows a lot of character on (Allman’s) part to take charge of that."
Mitchell, in her second year guiding the program, has seen growth in Allman’s game over the last couple of seasons, especially on the mental side. That mental growth has been most noticeable on the defensive side, where Allman is averaging five steals per game — roughly double what she was getting in seventh and eighth grade.
Much of the improvement can be attributed to her participation in AAU basketball. She spent last offseason playing with the Indiana Flight’s 15U Attack team for the first time, and the exposure to tougher competition has aided her development.
In the short term, Allman hopes that will help her lead her team to state, and maybe national, home-school championships. The long term, which may or may not include college ball, she’ll figure out later on.
She still has plenty of time left for that — and there are plenty of points to be scored in the meantime.
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Skylar Allman’s season-by-season statistics since joining the Indianapolis HomeSchool Knights varsity team as a seventh-grader in 2013-14:
<strong>Year;PPG;RPG;APG;SPG</strong>
2013-14;8.4;3.1;2.3;2.1
2014-15;8.2;2.7;1.6;2.7
2015-16;13.4;2.9;1.9.4.3
*2016-17;15.9;3.1;2.8;5.0
* – through eight games
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