By Dave Ricci
SANBORN — Joelle Pollak set a record, but she’s happier that her team got the win. Finally, it’s over. No more talk about breaking records. It’s just about the game.
Leading Kenmore East to a 53-38 win over Niagara-Wheatfield in Niagara Frontier League girls basketball action Tuesday night, Pollak netted 25 points, including four 3-pointers, and became the all-time leading scorer in Kenmore East basketball history. She now has 1,461.
Needing just three points to eclipse the record of 1,438 that was set by Mike O’Bryan in 1993, Pollak hit a pair of free throws two minutes and 11 seconds into the game.
The historic bucket came just over two minutes later, when Becca Simmons grabbed a rebound in the Bulldogs end and threw a pass out to Pollak, who dribbled up court, pulled up and shot from 3-point range.
As the ball released from her grip, time stood still for Pollak until she heard the sweet sound of the ball slipping through the net.
“I knew I was going to get three points tonight so I was more focused on the game. Wheatfield played tough,” she said. “We battled with them. It’s nice that it’s over with. I’m sure once the season is over, down the road it’ll (mean) more.”
While getting the record was nice, the bigger thrill for Pollak was feeling like she got her touch back. “My shot’s been kind of off lately so that (shot) set the tempo for the rest of the game. I had never missed so many shots as (I did) in the past four games,” Pollak said. “That was a good one to get my rhythm back.”
The game stopped momentarily as Pollak was presented with the record-setting basketball and had a photo taken with her teammates, while the Bulldogs fan base that was in attendance gave her a standing ovation.
Ironically, it was Pollak’s third milestone basket to come on the road. On Jan. 15, she set the Lady Bulldogs all-time record at Niagara Falls. And nearly one year ago to the day, Pollak became the youngest player to join the Lady Bulldogs’ 1,000-point club, at Lockport on Feb. 5, 2009.
For Jack Blanch, who is in his 19th season coaching the Bulldogs, seeing Pollak do great things on the court is nothing new.
“Joelle did what Joelle has done for us over the years,” Blanch said with a smile. “She played hard, even though she was a little under the weather. I thought she did a nice job and I thought the whole team did a nice job.”
After the game, Blanch and Pollak both expressed their appreciation to Wheatfield coach Diane Fegatilli for allowing them to acknowledge the milestone basket.
Planning to put this game ball with her other two milestone game balls, Pollak looked at her prize that still had “N-W” written on it in magic marker.
“I don’t know,” Pollak said with a playful laugh. “I’ll have to scrub off the ‘N-W.’”
Selina Zaccaria had 10 points and Jordyn Broas (six points) had 14 rebounds for the Bulldogs as they improved to 13-2 overall and 9-2 in the NFL with the win.
Stephanie Schmidt led the Falcons (8-6, 5-5) with 12 points and Ericka Furdak chipped in with eight.
