There may not be a Michael Jordan in any particular high school sport, but Tyra Buss has to be about as close as you can get.
After scoring 51 points for her Mt. Carmel (Ill.) High squad in a narrow 60-56 victory early in the season, Buss topped herself on Friday, scoring 50 points … in just three periods. It was the second time in two weeks that Buss cracked the 50-point plateau, having scored 54 on Jan. 19. against Buss’ latest star turn came against Boonville (Ind.) High in an 86-57 victory for Mt. Carmel. The win pushed Mt. Carmel’s undefeated record to 28-0 and clinched a league title for the Aces.
As reported by the Evansville Courier & Press, Buss hit four three-pointers and 12 of her 13 free throws in the title-clinching victory.
“Tyra is obviously the engine that keeps us going, but we’ve got a real nice team to go with her,” Mt. Carmel coach Tim Willis told the Courier & Press. “From a team standpoint, you have certain goals and obviously you want to win the conference. Winning the Big Eight is pretty prestigious.”
Mt. Carmel has never finished a season undefeated, but still has a chance to in 2012-13 thanks to Buss’ success. The Aces are 28-0 with a final regular season game to come before the Illinois Class 2A state championships.
As noted by MaxPreps, Buss is already closing in on the Illinois all-time career scoring record, even though she still has a full season to play. The 5-foot-7 guard has scored 3,242 points in her career -- she broke the 3,000 point mark on Jan. 18 -- 1,116 points in her junior season alone. The all-time single season record is just 87 points in front of Buss’ current mark, a threshold which almost any sane analyst would bet on her to break, barring an injury.
After all, no one has found a way to slow Buss as a junior. If she keeps up her pace as a senior, all bets on all kinds of state records are off.
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