The Liberty Hurricanes rang in the new year with a celebration of senior guard Ava Kopetskie’s record-breaking performance, becoming Liberty’s all-time leading girls scorer during the Hurricanes’ contest against Allentown Central Catholic on Jan. 3 at Liberty.

“I was definitely overwhelmed,” Kopetskie said. “It’s crazy that I got here and just the fact that I was able to be here today and have the opportunity to break the record was just amazing. I never thought that I could do that.”

Kopetskie needed 12 points to break the previous record held by Dana Wieller ‘09 of 1,323.

“I had 10 right off the bat, and to get that 12th was just great,” said Kopetskie. “I was trying not to rush it. I knew it was gonna come, eventually. It was just a matter of when it was gonna come and me just focusing and staying calm.”

Early in the second quarter, Liberty center Chloe Rumelhart set a screen, and Kopetskie did a step back for a long two points.

The game was stopped momentarily for a team photo, and play resumed with a 17-12 Hurricane lead over the Vikettes.

“I kept updating her every game so she could know where she was at because it was one of her personal goals for the year,” said Liberty coach Jarrett Carnes, “so now she’s eyeing-up being the actual all-time scorer for both boys and girls.”

Kopetskie finished the game with 21 points.

The Hurricanes took a 24-18 lead into halftime when Coach Carnes had some important words for his team.

“I told the girls the game’s going to be won in the third quarter,” he said. “That was my halftime speech to them, and they came out here ready to go. To break away a little bit, and in the fourth quarter, you have some cushion, you take care of the ball, play some defense, and things will fall in the right spots.”

Liberty extended its lead by 11 points in the third quarter on contributions from Kopetskie, Rumelhart, Emma Miller, and DeLaney Foster and held the Vikettes to four points in the final frame to beat Central, 50-29.