By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The career scoring leaders on two Northern Kentucky high school basketball teams pushed their point totals over the 2,000 mark in recent home games.
CovCath senior Cole VonHandorf, No. 3, shakes hands with one of his teammates after scoring the 2,000th point of his high school basketball career. Coach Scott Ruthsatz is waiting to give VonHandorf the game ball. (Photo by Dale Dawn)
Covington Catholic senior guard Cole VonHandorf reached that milestone Monday when he scored 23 points in a home game against Campbell County to give him 2,008 total points in four varsity seasons.
Last week, Beechwood senior guard Allison Johnson scored 25 points in a home game against Ludlow to surpass the 2,000 mark and she got 23 points the next night against Newport to give her 2,030.
Johnson, who has accepted a scholarship from Bucknell University, began playing varsity basketball for Beechwood as an eighth-grader. Earlier this season, she broke the team's previous career scoring record of 1,684 points that was set by 2001 graduate Katie Pohlgeers.
VonHandorf, a Fairmont State University recruit, is the first CovCath basketball player to reach the 2,000-point milestone. The team's previous career scoring leader was 2014 graduate Nick Ruthsatz with 1,980 points.
As a freshman, VonHandorf averaged 10.9 points and was named to the all-state tournament team after the Colonels won the first state championship in the history of the program. He averaged a team-high 18.2 points during his sophomore season and was named to the all-state tournament team once again when CovCath made it to the state semifinals.
Last year, VonHandorf's scoring average dipped to 16.9, partly due to ligament damage in the thumb on his shooting hand. This season, he's averaging 17.3 points for the Colonels, who are ranked No. 1 in the state in The Louisville Courier Journal newspaper's Litkenhous Ratings.