Southland's Kylie Walker reaches 1,000th career point

CARDWELL, Mo. - With only an eight-person roster at the start of the season, Southland’s girls basketball team didn’t have a lot of expectations.

After missing last season due to low numbers, this is only the third year since the turn of the century in which the school has found enough players to have a girls' team. The last time, before 2022, was in 1993.

Despite the low bar Southland senior Kylie Walker still had big goals for her team and herself. This included leading her team to a win and scoring her 1,000th career point. On Jan. 9, as the team traveled to play Caruthersville, Walker accomplished both of those goals.

With 42 points in the game, Walker led Southland to a 43-9 victory over the Tigers. While accomplishing their first win of the season, Walker also scored her 1,000th career point against Caruthersville.

“I knew before the game that I had the potential to get [1,000 points],” Walker said. “I told myself that I was going to have to push my hardest until I got it.”

According to Walker, despite the huge victory, this was one of the most physical games of the season so far.

Following their last contest against Senath-Hornersville, in which Walker scored 33 points, she entered this game needing only 31 to reach 1,000. She said the Caruthersville team made her fight for all 31 of those points.

“I knew I was going to have to shoot and my team knew I had to shoot,” Walker said. “They were feeding me the ball and it just all came together.”

Even though this is Walker's senior season, she has only played three years with the Southland team. Her freshman season was the first time Southland had a girls' team in almost two decades.

In their first year back, the Rebels struggled through a 2-15 schedule before earning a Class 1 District 1 title and earning a trip to state.

There was improvement in the second season as they doubled their number of wins. However, as small schools go, they couldn’t find enough players for a team in 2023.

Now, with the lack of numbers and experience, Walker’s teammates turn to her. As their ‘go-to’ scorer, Walker plays each role on the court for her teammates.

She is their point guard, bringing the ball up the court. She is an outside shooter who can also drive to the rim. She is a small post who can muscle her way around bigger defenders. She is the Southland Rebel girls basketball team.

While averaging 20 points per game in three seasons, Walker finally scored 1,000 points after only playing 50 games.

“There was a lot of relief and excitement,” Walker said. “I was working for this all season and the fact it finally became real was exciting. My high school career was very unpredictable. One year we had 12 girls, and the next year only five would come out or none at all so I knew this season when we got a team back that I would have to be the best player I could be.”

Although this game turned out to be everything she wanted, Walker is not done. She now sits at 1,027 points on her career after another 18-point performance against South Pemiscot on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and she is fixing for more. With five games left in the regular season, Walker wants to give her team one more win before she closes out her high school basketball career.

“I’m thankful for my coaches,” Walker said. “They practice and taught me everything I know along with my parents who push me to be the best player I can be on the court and always give it my all. It was such a big achievement to win that game so I want to get at least one more for my teammates.”

Southland High School will recognize Walker for all of her achievements at their final home game of the season on Thursday, Jan. 23. They will face Marmaduke, Ar. at 5 p.m. for their senior night.