Around this time every year, you start hearing about high school basketball players scoring their 1,000th career points. It's a great milestone, but not all that rare -- except in the case of North Carroll's Caitlin Bach.

When Bach scored her 1,000th point Friday night she became the first player in school history -- boy or girl -- to reach the milestone. That's particulary significant because North Carroll in Hampstead, Carroll County, is 52 years old. And because Bach is just a junior.

How did the 5-foot-11 forward get to 1,000 in less than three full seasons when no other Panther has been able to get there at all?

“She’s always been more athletic than the kids she’s played against and she’s obviously very talented,” said North Carroll coach John Brown.

Bach rarely comes off the floor. She has started every game of her career and has averaged about 28-30 minutes in each one, Brown said.

Two weeks ago, Bach quietly broke the school record of 917, but she has been honored twice already for hitting 1,000 – once when she did it Friday night at Thomas Johnson and again on Saturday when the Panthers played at home against Tuscarora.

“It’s nice since my name will be remembered there, but more importantly, I would like to have a state championship,” Bach said. “I guess that’s the goal now.”

Bach followed her sisters Melissa and Megan onto the floor, starting to dribble when she was about 3, she said. Getting on the floor as a freshman and playing with Megan helped her adjust to the varsity game and quickly become a contributor, Brown said.

“During three years in our program, she’s become a better player and found other ways to score as she’s gone along and become the focus of the other teams’ defenses," he said. "Every night, she’s getting slammed sometimes by three girls, so she has expanded her game. She handles the ball very well and she understands the game better than anyone I have. We very rarely take her off the floor.”

For Bach, who averages 19 points and 13 rebounds this season, the next goal -– aside from making it to states -– is to reach 1,000 rebounds. She’ll probably do that, too. She’s just gone over 700.