With a pair of historic performances, two Colorado prep basketball legends were overwritten in the record books this winter.
The first came on Jan. 13 when Kennedy senior Keilani Venegas Alvarez dropped 64 points against Hinkley, overtaking the CHSAA single-game scoring mark of 61 set by ThunderRidge’s Abby Waner in 2005.
Five weeks later, Manual senior DeShawn Fox broke the single-game scoring record for the boys with 76 points against William Smith on Feb. 20, surpassing the 74-point bar set by Manual’s Chucky Sproling in 1987.
The scoring explosions by Venegas Alvarez and Fox generated both praise and criticism across social media and the Colorado basketball community, leaving some questioning the manner in which both marks were achieved and whether there is a right or wrong way to break a single-game record.
Denver East head coach Rudy Carey’s own internal debate, as Sproling’s coach at Manual when he broke the record under similar circumstances four decades ago, shows there’s no easy answers.
“I can’t point the finger,” Carey admits, “because I had the finger pointed back at me.”
The record-breaking performances
Venegas Alvarez got the watercooler debate going last month when she set the new scoring record in a 104-6 defeat of Hinkley.
Hinkley, which won five games total over the past three seasons, finished 61st out of 62 teams in the Class 5A RPI while going 0-18. Due to injuries, Hinkley played the entire second half against Kennedy with only five players.
After Venegas Alvarez put up 40 points in the first half, Kennedy head coach Jamar Baker said he wasn’t made aware of Waner’s record until he went to pull Venegas Alvarez in the middle of the third quarter and the scorer’s table informed him she was only six points away.
“In my head, I was like, ‘There’s no way I can rob this kid of this moment,’” Baker said. “So I put her back in and told her to go get the record. Once she got the record early in the fourth quarter, I sat her down.”
Venegas Alvarez shot 27 of 44 from the field, 3 of 6 from 3-point range and 7 of 10 from the stripe. The senior finished with 18 steals, and the majority of her points came on fast-break lay-ups.
Manual’s DeShawn Fox (5) shoots the ball over Yuma’s Cesar Gamboa (5) in the Thunderdome at Manual High School in Denver, Colorado on Friday, February 23, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Slezak/ Special to The Denver Post)
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It was a similar theme in Fox’s record-setter last week, when the senior was 37 of 40 from the field with no 3-point attempts and 2 of 3 from the free throw line in a 131-20 victory.
The majority of his points came via fast-break dunks or lay-ups as William Smith, like Hinkley, struggled to get the ball up the floor and possess it in the half-court. William Smith, which has won three games over the past three years, finished 1-11 this season and 53rd of 55 teams in the Class 3A RPI.
Manual head coach Omar Henry said the initial goal was to see Fox score 55. He had 36 points at half, and then he went on a 20-0 run to start the third quarter.
Fox eventually broke the record with about a minute to play in the third, then came out with the rest of Manual’s starters.
“After he went on that 20-0 run, we said to ourselves: ‘Do we think he can get it in the third?’” Henry said. “So we tried to get it (in that quarter). We wanted to give him a chance at it.”
Backstory of the old records
While this year’s record-setting performances in extreme blowouts resulted in criticism of Kennedy and Manual, the historic scoring tallies from Waner and Sproling both occurred in a similarly lopsided fashion.
Waner’s mark was set in a 97-26 demolition of Gateway, a struggling program that had nowhere near the size and talent of the Grizzlies, who capped that season with a third straight Class 5A title.
Waner had 25 baskets in that game, mostly fast-break lay-ups, as well as five 3s and six free throws to break the prior record of 59 set by Ridgway’s Tracy Hill in 1983. Hill and Waner remain No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in CHSAA’s all-time career and single-season scoring categories.
The Duke-bound senior had 47 points at halftime, and ThunderRidge worked around Gateway’s stall-ball tactic to keep getting Waner opportunities to score.
ThunderRidge Abby Waner goes up for a shot against Highlands Ranch on January 14, 2004. (Denver Post file photo by Kathryn Scott)
“We got a bit of (criticism) on the beginnings of social media and some chat boards,” recalled then-ThunderRidge coach Bill Bradley. “But the Gateway players were asking her for her autograph after the game. Abby was a player who, at that point in time, had a Caitlin Clark-like phenomenon going within Colorado.”
Waner led the state in scoring at 32.5 points per game that year and said the record “felt very appropriate to me at the time.”
“It was and is kind of like a good party story when someone asks, ‘What’s the most points you’ve ever scored?’” said Waner (now Waner Bartolotta). “But outside of that, what’s more important and more relevant to me is we won the championship that year.”
Eighteen years before Waner’s record, Sproling set his mark in a 138-56 win over Denver North, breaking the standard of 69 set by Kim’s Lane Gooden in 1976.
The St. John ‘s-bound junior led the state in scoring that season at 34 points per game. He registered a triple-double in his 74-point game against Denver North, which hadn’t won a game in over two years, with 30 field goals and 14 free throws in 27 minutes in the year before the arrival of the 3-point line.
“I wasn’t even trying to go for the record,” Sproling said. “We were playing the game, and the shots started dropping.”
After that game, Carey said he “heard (criticism) from everywhere.”
“I didn’t intend to set out to beat anybody like that,” Carey said. “When you’re playing 15 guys every quarter, I don’t know what else to do. Degrade them by laying on the court? I felt bad for the North kids, but my allegiance is to my kids and I have to manage them the best I can.”
Negative reaction to new records
The blowback to this year’s scoring records has been pronounced, due in large part to the availability of MaxPreps box scores and the viral nature of such performances on social media.
Carey himself said he had mixed emotions after Fox’s record.
“If the record is broken in the flow of the game and not in an intentional effort to break a record, (I’m good with it),” he said. “But to intentionally set out to break a record, and cherry-pick, and your main objective is to break a record, I’m not with that. I’m not laudatory of that.
“… I’m happy for (Fox), and the fact it was another Manual athlete was an exciting part for me. But I’m not sure I’m happy about how he broke it.”
Hinkley girls head coach Dawn Quintero said that she was “disappointed in the sportsmanship” by Kennedy in Venegas Alvarez’s record-setting game. She said most of her players are beginners in the sport.
“It’s not hard to see what our skill level was,” Quintero said. “I think they took advantage of it.”
Head coaches Jarris Krapcha of Eaglecrest, Enoch Miller of Roosevelt and Caryn Jarocki of Highlands Ranch all said they wouldn’t have chased the record, or continued to play their top players, in a game that was a 40-plus point difference at half.
“Embarrassing a team and pushing up scoring numbers in the second half (of a blowout) is just not me,” Miller said.
Jarocki questioned why both Venegas Alvarez and Fox were still in the game in the third quarter.
“Every time this record is brought up, it’s against a team that’s far inferior,” Jarocki said. “My philosophy is, if you’re going to break a record, it should be against somebody good in a game that’s actually competitive. If you’re winning by that much, why is your best player in the game?
“My other point is, ‘Why are you running up the score that much? Why aren’t you doing something to make it less embarrassing for the other team?’ Like no fast breaks, or not stealing the ball, or passing it five times before shooting or running through the offense with no shooting.”
Krapcha struck a similar tone.
“The consensus of coaches I’ve talked to is the way I feel, which is you automatically question, ‘Was it done with a level of sportsmanship and spirit of the game in consideration? Or was it strictly just chasing the record and embarrassing a team in the process?’” Krapcha said. “No one is really cheering it on.”
Kennedy’s and Manual’s defenses
Baker said he caught flack after Venegas Alvarez’s record, while Henry said most of the negativity for Fox’s record was directed at the player, much of it via Facebook.
Baker said he’s quick to remind detractors that “Abby did it the same way,” while also pointing out that the Commanders only had six players in their entire program.
“There were not really too many options to sub her or (other starters), unless you want me to start putting parents in the game,” Baker said. “If I had an actual bench, Keilani probably only plays a few minutes to start the third quarter.”
Baker also argued that the adversity that Venegas Alvarez endured over the past year underscored his decision to let her go for the record.
Venegas Alvarez missed most of 2022-23 with a high ankle sprain. Then over the summer, she went through rehabilitation at National Jewish Health to overcome exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction, a condition that caused her vocal cords to close while playing basketball.
“This record was a good way to finish off my high school career,” said Venegas Alvarez, who averaged 20.6 points this year. “After the high ankle sprain, and then my huge breathing problem that impacted me pretty severely, (this record) was also a way to show that basketball is something I could still do, in a game that I grew with.”
Henry also alluded to Sproling accomplishing his record against an outmatched team. He says William Smith principal Kristin Wiedmaier Collins and athletic director Kerri Burgs were at the game and congratulated Fox afterward. (Burgs and William Smith head coach Kristina Herrera did not respond to multiple emails requesting comment).
“We were not trying to run the score up,” Henry said. Manual principal Chris DeRemer shared that same sentiment in a phone call with Wiedmaier Collins.
“(Fox) is a great student that’s worked hard all four years, and we finally had somebody get close enough to break the record,” Henry said. “We felt like it was something he deserved, we were all behind him 100%.”
Fox, who is averaging 23 points ahead of Manual’s Class 3A state tournament opener on Friday, said he’s ignored the criticism on social media. He, like Venegas Alvarez, received a positive reaction within his school.
“(Fellow students) walk by me in the halls and say, ’76!’” Fox said. “(To those who criticize), they’d probably try to break the record if they got the opportunity. I say if you get the opportunity, go for it.”
To top it off, both players saw their college recruitment grow after breaking the record.
Venegas Alvarez got her first offer, from Waldorf University, after her 64-point showing. Meanwhile, Fox, who already had an offer from Phoenix College, said his recruiting increased after dropping 76.
Both Baker and Henry also echoed Carey’s sentiment regarding Sproling’s historic performance in 1987, saying it’s not their job to worry about the feelings or deficiencies of the other team.
“If you’re Hinkley, why wouldn’t you double-team (Venegas Alvarez)? Or make adjustments?,” Baker said. “I’m not going to mess with (Venegas Alvarez)’s mental and tell her not to shoot in the third quarter, when she was wide open or getting (fast-breaks).
“Same thing with (Fox) — if he’s scoring that much, (William Smith) should have to make a defensive adjustment, and force someone else to score. … I would tell (critics) ‘don’t rob a kid of the magnitude of this moment.’”
The legends’ reaction
Both Colorado high school legends expressed their congratulations to the new record-holders.
Waner said she feels for Hinkley as she did for Gateway in 2005, but she’s happy for Venegas Alvarez.
“I think once you get to a certain level, including varsity basketball in whatever classification, you kind of have to put on your big-girl pants and go play,” Waner said. “The competitive side in me probably wins out on this one.”
Sproling — who was in the stands for Fox’s record-setting game, but left early because of the lopsided score — is also happy for Fox, even though he said it was a “blatant, deliberate attempt by the Manual coaching staff (to break the record).”
“All records are made to be broken, and the way Lane Gooden congratulated me, I want to pass the torch to the next guy in the same way,” Sproling said. “76 points is 76 points, even if you get it in your own backyard or your driveway.”
Henry doesn’t think Fox’s record will last long with the modern game’s emphasis on offensive output.
“A lot of kids are going to shoot for it in the next few years because it has a different statistical meaning now,” Sproling said.
A national trend
After all, this isn’t just a Colorado thing.
Look around the nation and players dropping 60-plus points is no longer a rarity. Just this season, there have been a number of large scoring outbursts — the majority of them in blowouts.
On the boys side, the nation’s leading scorer, Benjamin (Texas) junior Grayson Rigdon, scored 72 in a 97-36 win on Feb. 6. Richmond Senior (North Carolina) senior Paul McNeil Jr. set a new state record with 71 points in a 118-52 win on Jan. 16.
For the girls, the nation’s leading scorer, Clairton (Pa.) junior Iyanna Wade, scored 65 in an 82-32 win on Jan. 25. And the nation’s No. 2 scorer, Rice (Texas) senior Saniya Burks, racked up 75 points in a 102-27 win on Feb. 2.
For some, those video game tallies dilute the significance of the record.
The all-time high school single-game scoring record for the boys is 135, set by Danny Heater in West Virginia in 1960. On the girls side a pair of Californians-turned-national-superstars top the archives: Cheryl Miller’s 105 in 1982, and Lisa Leslie’s 101 in one half in 1990.
“The individual career points record, that’s more indicative of the type of player they are,” Krapcha said. “That means you’ve done it over four years and your team’s probably made some tournament runs. Also, total points in a state tournament and points per game for a whole season, those types of records hold more water.”
Jarocki said the single-game scoring record “never had luster for me to begin with.”
“I’ve had players who could’ve (scored 70) easily — but I would never make it like that in a blowout, because is that really sportsmanship?” she said. “A long time ago, CHSAA used to have a record of biggest margin of victory in the record book, and they took that away because that’s not very sportsmanlike. Maybe they should take this one away, too.”
Skeptics or not, Venegas Alvarez or Fox aren’t sweating it. It’s their name in the record books, after all.
“This record will always mean a lot to me,” Fox said. “I’ll tell my kids about it, my grandkids. Chucky was happy to have it for so long, and no matter (how long mine lasts), I will be too.”
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