Write your article here..By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

On Tuesday Jan. 30, Holliston’s Megan Simpson was able to put forth the ultimate revenge on the Norwood girls’ basketball team. 

Playing in front of the Mustangs home crowd, the Holliston point guard stole the ball in the defensive zone and ran the length of the court to put in a layup that would push her varsity career scoring total over 1,000 points.

Ironically, it was Norwood who first started to put a lot of pressure on the Holliston athlete when she first took to the court as a freshman.

 

“As a freshman I was able to score pretty well against the TVL (Tri-Valley League), but it was Norwood that was the first team to face guard me,” Simpson said. “They were putting everyone on me everywhere I went, they always had someone on me, so it was ironic that I eventually scored my 1,000 point against them.”

Despite the Mustangs shadowing the Panther guard all over the floor, her Holliston teammates would help her to get open and score and if she didn’t have the opportunity, she’d dish it off to a teammate to whom would be able.

To be able to do it against Norwood was sweet revenge.

“Prior to the Norwood game, my father had mentioned it to me how they had started a trend within the rest of the league and the way that they guarded me,” she said. “It was crazy how it all matched up and it was against them when I hit my 1000 point.”

Scoring 1000 points as a varsity basketball player wasn’t something that was ever on Simpson’s radar. However, after improving her 13.2 points per game as a freshman to 20.7 the following year.

“I had never thought about it until my sophomore year when I was the second leading scorer in the TVL (Simpson currently leads the league this year averaging 19.6 points per game). It was then I stated to realize that it was a possibility of it happening,” she said. “I started to notice the banner in the gym at practice with all the names of those who had already accomplished the feat and my teammates would continually remind me that my name was going to eventually be up there.”

Going into the Norwood game the junior needed only a mere 3-points to put her name on the Holliston banner with the likes of Kara Wolters, who went on to win championships with UCONN, Team USA in the Olympics and in the WNBA. Simpson knew that it was going to happen and most likely in the first quarter. 

“It was really nerve-wracking; there was a huge crowd of family and friends that traveled to Norwood,” Simpson said. “If we had been at home, it would have been much more of a larger crowd, but it didn’t matter as the people that were close to me were there.”

According to the junior, she just wanted to take the court and play Holliston basketball. She didn’t plan on forcing anything, she just wanted to take her normal shots and play her game. On the play before she hit Holliston immortality, she was fouled and hit both of her free-throws to put her within one point. 

Back on defense, Simpson stole the ball and took it full court for the lay-up and realizing what she had just accomplished went running and jumped into her father’s arms on the sidelines. The game was stopped, and she was recognized and given the game ball.

“It was an amazing feeling and after I hit the shot, I ran over to my father and gave him a big hug as he’s been my number one supporter,” she said. “The team then ran over to me and we all celebrated. This means a lot to me, all the hard work I out in to get to this moment, especially only being a junior. I couldn’t have done this without my family, coaches, and teammates.”

While Simpson may have never thought about this moment, Holliston Coach Kurt Lorenzen knew that he had a special talent in the young guard that came to him three years ago.

“You could tell right away that she was a skilled basketball player, especially on offense,” the Panther Coach said. “Megan likes to create her own shot and you can sense her scoring ability as a younger player. He main attribute is her competitiveness to win.”

Basketball was brought into her life at a very young age; her father had played in college and her brother in high school so it was inevitable that she would be encouraged to play herself. The family didn’t have to push too hard as she soon found that she loved the sport.

“It’s a team sport that everyone must contribute to be successful,” she said, “There is no break in the game; defense quickly turns into offense and being a really competitive person, I liked that fact.”

Simpson would begin her basketball career playing in the Holliston Youth Basketball League before joining a club team, the Bay State Jaguars in middle school. Having played for the Jaguars she found herself truly grateful as it was an important facet in her adjusting to high school basketball.

As she entered high school and prepared for tryouts, Coach Lorenzen had reached out to the incoming freshman having seen her play with the middle school team. At this point Simpson had a good feeling that she’d be on the varsity team, but not in the capacity that she eventually ended up in.

“I had an important role on the varsity team, which was a surprise, but it gave me the confidence that I needed to play on this level,” Simpson said. “Originally there was a little bit of pressure as I had to go out and perform well in this fast-paced game with a bunch of juniors and seniors.”

Luckily, she found out quickly that her new teammates were all supportive and welcoming to her. Now, three years later they are celebrating her success.

With roughly a year and half of basketball games with Holliston, at the time of this writing, Simpson is trying to look into the future to see what the rest of her career will look like.

“By the end of my senior year I could have around 1500 points, but it all depends,” she said. “This was something that I never dreamed about and although it is a relief that it is over my main focus is back to the team and having success on the courts. I’m not worried about what my totals are like.”

Although basketball has been her one and only sport since she entered high school, the junior is unsure if it will be part of her life after graduating from Holliston. At this time, she has not decided if she wants to play on the collegiate level, but if she does it will just be another big accomplishment in her career.