FARMINGTON, Mo. --Kiley Bess became the eighth Poplar Bluff girls basketball player to reach 1,000 career points Monday night.
The sophomore reached the milestone with a shot from the field in the third quarter and scored a game-high 34 points in Poplar Bluff's 68-59 win at Farmington.
"She's really having to work hard to get it too," Mules coach John David Pattillo said. "There's a lot of people running and chasing or double-teaming her.
"She's getting it done in different ways."
Doni Everts returned from an ankle injury that kept the senior out the last two games, both losses. She scored six of her 10 points in the third quarter when the Mules (15-9) took command.
Farmington (14-10) led 32-29 at halftime with Bess scoring 20 of Poplar Bluff's points.
Sierra Sievers scored all six of her points in the second half while senior Shelby Sievers net all five of her points before halftime.
Hannah Bass, who scored a career-high nine points, sank a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter to give the Mules a 48-44 lead.
"That was a big point, the game was close there, that kind of extended the lead," Coach Pattillo said. "Fourth quarter we really handled ourselves pretty well. Handled the ball, made good decisions."
Poplar Bluff sank 14 of 17 foul shots in the fourth quarter and ended up 25 of 29 at the line.
"That was big for us," Coach Pattillo said.
It took Bess 51 games to reach 1,000 points.
Bess ended the night with 1,012 points, trailing Nicole Rivers by three points for seventh on the all-time career list.
Mary Kalich has held the career scoring record of 1,635 points since 1991. Bess broke Kalich's single-game scoring record of 45 when she scored 50 in an overtime win at Sikeston earlier this season.
Bess added to her record for free throws in a season, sinking 14 of 16 against the Knights. She has knocked down 77.3 percent of her foul shots.
Bess, who has averaged 19.8 points per game the last two years, topped 30 points in a game for the fifth time, all this season, and has scored 20 or more in 27 of her 51 career games.
Only eight boys have reached the milestone with junior Dominique Hardimon needing 64 points to join the club. Tyler Hansbrough holds the school record for career scoring at 2,464 points and needed 60 games to reach 1,000.
Poplar Bluff won the junior varsity game 52-28.
The Mules wrap up the regular season at home Thursday against Notre Dame. Poplar Bluff is the top seed in the upcoming MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 tournament at Northwest High School in Cedar Hill.