Townsend sets single-game scoring record at Campbell

CAMPBELL — Gabbie Townsend had no idea what was on the line during the final minutes of play against Southland.

After the final buzzer, the Campbell freshman walked off the court with Campbell’s single-game scoring record. She put up 42 points in their 69-39 win over Southland.

It was the third game of the season at the Hayti Invitational. Campbell, with a seven-girl roster, was en route to boosting its record to 2-1.

Townsend led the team in points. She began to take over in the first half after the team got off to a slow start.

“We weren’t losing but it was very dry,” Townsend said. “We came back after a timeout and started getting in a groove a little bit.”

The team started to pick away at Southland’s defense and gain momentum into their lead when head coach Laura Foster called another time-out.

During this time-out in the third quarter, Foster told Townsend she was only eight points away from the record.

“Whenever she told me, I couldn’t believe it,” Townsend said. “It’s only my freshman year, our team is very young kind of the underdog in every game so I didn’t think I would ever do anything like this. I could not believe what was about to happen.”

She went on to break the record on the last point of the game.

As they were leading in the fourth quarter, Foster almost pulled Townsend out of the game. Then she realized how close she was to the record, previously held at 37 points by Claire Parker.

“I honestly didn’t realize it,” Foster said. “It wasn’t even on my mind as something she could accomplish her freshman year. It’s pretty exciting to realize she was able to do that as a freshman. Not just for Gabbie, but for me and the girls as well.”

Four out of seven girls on this roster are freshmen while two are sophomores and only one junior. While only three games deep, they have a lot of playing left with each other.

According to Townsend, her teammates rushed the court to cheer her on at the buzzer, accepting she made history as a freshman.

“It didn’t really hit me until I went to school the next day,” Townsend said. “They said my name on the announcement and everyone was cheering me on and it was pretty cool.”

Townsend gives credit to her teammates and the fun, energetic atmosphere they create. It was during the first timeout when her teammates began playing their favorite team song, “Hit the Quan” which pumped them up and got her on her scoring spree.

“Our team is so young, but one thing is we are all so supportive of each other,” Townsend said. “We’d rather have a fun game and have fun playing together than anything else. We all want to win but we would rather support each other and have fun.”

After they found out she was only a few shots away, all of her teammates made sure she got the ball.

After she reached 40 points, Foster left her in for one more play in the last minute when she hit her 42nd point. She said she didn’t want Townsend to get too many points as a freshman, with the knowledge she has four years to add to this record.

“It was just a reminder to all of us that you can reach a goal without even knowing it,” Foster said. “Just by playing she reached this goal. I wanted her to be proud of it even though it was a goal she hadn’t even set. I don’t think she knew she would reach that and I wanted her to know she reached it just by playing ball.”

Townsend now sits in the historic company of some of Campbell’s best girl basketball players, including Claire Parker. Parker is known as the first female basketball player at Campbell to score 1,000 career points.

Along with Parker, Gabby Nielson --- who graduated in 2019 --- and Elyssa Schatz, who graduated in 2024, also secured 1,000 career points.

Now, with this record under her belt, Townsend hopes to keep improving. She said her love for the game will keep her striving for success.

“I’ve always loved basketball,” Townsend said. “Playing in middle school and AAU has brought that love for the game and made me want to keep getting better. I want to be the best. I want to make that record higher, but I want to break so many more records. I want 1,000 points and I want to be remembered. At the end of my career, I want Campbell to retire my jersey for all of my accomplishments.”