Jake Dorow | Daily Times

Notre Dame’s Jen Arnzen (30) celebrates reaching the 1,000-point plateau with her teammates Wednesday evening.

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Jake Dorow

PDT Contributor

Every once in a while a special player comes along and accomplishes something that will be placed in the record books for that particular school.

On Wednesday night, senior forward Jen Arnzen’s layup with 3:49 left in the second quarter to reach the 1,000-point plateau cemented her placed in Notre Dame’s history.

“She’s a great kid and she has done a lot for this program, more than she’ll probably ever realize,” Notre Dame coach J.D. McKenzie said. “It was a special moment and I was just thankful to witness it and be a part of it.”

Arnzen, who finished with eight points and a game high 17 rebounds, now has a career total of 1,004 points with 13 contests remaining.

“It means a lot, it felt good to reach 1,000 points,” Jen Arnzen said. “For four years I have been on good teams and all of my teammates have been chipping in.”

At the half, the entire crowd stood and applauded Arnzen, who was standing with her teammates and the Piketon team, receiving an award that was handed to her by the players and the Notre Dame coaching staff.

Arnzen was just one of the highlights of the night as the Notre Dame Lady Titans (8-0) were able to stay unbeaten, defeating the Piketon Lady Redstreaks (1-5), 50-36.

After falling behind early, in large part because of Piketon’s 6-0 run to begin the game, Notre Dame played from behind for the most part in the first half. Piketon’s Kalen Jenkins scored six of the Lady Redstreaks 10 first quarter points.

“We were just feeling them out and seeing what would work best for us,” McKenzie said.

Trailing for most of the first half, Arnzen made two free throws with 6:17 left in the half to give Notre Dame their first lead at 14-13. It was part of a 7-0 run to hand Notre Dame that pushed their lead to 17-13.

The Titans entered halftime leading 24-21.

Leading only by three, the Lady Titans came out with a strong defensive showing, forcing five turnovers in the quarter that fueled an 11-0 run. During the first four minutes of the quarter Notre Dame shot 5-of-6.

“The biggest thing was to stop giving them second chance opportunities,” McKenzie said.

Piketon did not get their first bucket of the second half until Ragen Kayser made a layup with 2:03 remaining in the third quarter. The Lady Titans allowed only five points in the quarter, helping them extend their lead to 44-29, their largest of the game.

“We made them take bad shots and we rebounded the basketball,” McKenzie said.

Notre Dame’s Libby Welsh scored the Lady Titans’ first seven points in the fourth quarter, giving the Redstreaks little hope of a comeback.

“Piketon is a good team and they played great defense,” McKenzie said.

Notre Dame will travel to Latham to take on Western High School on Dec. 29 to try and make it 9-straight wins to start the year. Piketon will play host to Unioto on Dec. 20.

Piketon 10 11 5 10 - 36

Notre Dame 8 16 13 13 - 50

Piketon- Reuter 3-0-6, Lawhorn 2-1-5, Jenkins 4-2-10, Legg 3-2-10, Scott 0-1-1, Pack 1-1-3

Piketon 3-pointers- Legg (2)

Notre Dame- Phillips 4-2-10, Pierron 4-3-11, Marting 1-0-2, Arnzen 1-6-8, Sammons 0-4-4, Stevenson 2-2-6, Welsh 2-3-7, Ramey 1-0-2

Notre Dame 3-pointers-

Records: Piketon (1-5), Notre Dame (8-0)