For one Tahoma girls basketball star, a three pointer during the second quarter on Feb. 9 will not be forgotten any time soon.

That basket meant more to senior guard Kaelan Shamseldin than just three points. That score put her above the career 1,000 point mark during her four years as a starting varsity player for the Bears.

She said during her years at Tahoma, she has started every varsity game.

Scoring 1,000 career points “is a great accomplishment for Kaelan,” Bears coach Pete DeBolt wrote in an email following the Feb. 9 game.

He added that he is proud of all the hard work Shamseldin has put into bettering her game. He said for the past couple years, she has always faced the opponents’s top defender and that “takes both skills to score but also mental toughness to overcome the team’s best efforts to stop her.”

The last time a girls basketball player at Tahoma accomplished this milestone, DeBolt said, was during the 1998-99 season when two players, Jacqueline Bennion and Michelle Demetruk both achieved this feat.

Prior to scoring her 1,000th career point, she said “it is an honor to have the opportunity to join such an elite group of players.”

But she added, the credit goes to the Tahoma basketball program including the coaches and players she has been with over the past four years.

“They were the ones who put me in the situation to score those points over the years,” Shamseldin wrote in an email.

DeBolt agreed with Shamseldin. He said this recognition is also a win for every teammate she played with during her time at Tahoma.

Shamseldin has been playing basketball for 10 years. She said she has also traveled across the country to face some of the nation’s top teams and players.

She doesn’t stop at basketball — Shamseldin is a three sport athlete that includes playing soccer since she was 4 years old and running track while in high school.

After losing 45-32 in the first round of the West Central District tournament to Curtis, the Bears faced Kentwood in a loser out game on Feb. 10.

The Bears’ season continued after winning 50-38.

Shamseldin helped Tahoma beat the Conks by scoring 24 of the team’s 50 points. Her total points scored for the season, as of Feb. 13, is 300.

Next up for Tahoma is another loser out game, this time against Kentlake. The game was scheduled for Tuesday evening after The Reporter’s press deadline.

The previous two match ups against the Falcons this year were losses for Tahoma.

Shamseldin said the team has worked well together this year and on Jan. 31 the team’s four losses up to that point had been to top teams in the state.

“I am looking forward to finishing out my senior season with a deep run into the playoffs,” she said. “(I’m) looking forward to the challenge.”

After hitting the 1,000th career point mark, she said she feels the same way she did before achieving that milestone. “I couldn’t have done it without the support of my teammates, coaches and family.”

The Bears are now one game, one win away from a chance at winning state.

“More important to me right now is my team’s opportunity to make the state playoffs, to which I have never been,” Shamseldin said.

During her years on varsity, she said Tahoma was one win away from state but lost that game each of the three years.

“We came close to beating them (Kentlake) the last time we played, but they pulled away in the end,” she said. “Hopefully, this time we can get them and earn our way to the state tournament!”

When asked what this accomplishment of Shamseldin’s means to Tahoma, Athletic Director Tony Davis had similar words to DeBolt to say about her.

“Kaelan has had a great career at Tahoma and represented us well both on and off the court,” he said in an email. “She’s a great player, outstanding student and quality person. She has left a legacy at Tahoma and she’s still got a few games left in her.”

Her senior season for the Bears won’t be the last time Shamseldin will take to the hardwood.

She will continue playing at the collegiate level for Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.

“I am really excited to help them continue their winning traditions on the basketball court,” she said.

While at Whitman, Shamseldin said she will study sports medicine.

Playing basketball has helped Shamseldin do more than reach this milestone; it has also taught her to be not only a leader but also a team player, she said.

She added, she has also “learned the importance of working hard to achieve my goals.”