McNair new career scoring leader at Chase County

    It was going to happen sometime this Chase County basketball season.
    Just when senior Mallie McNair would set the girls’ career scoring record was all that was in question.
    That day arrived last Thursday, eight games into the 2019-20 season, when a bucket against Wray, Colorado just before halftime put her over the previous record of 1,116 points held for more than 40 years by Cathy (Weir) Renk.
    While she needed just nine points to tie the record, it might have been in doubt for McNair early in the Jan. 9 game.
    She was held scoreless the first quarter as Wray’s coaches used a box-and-one defense to try to stop her.
    But, McNair started racking up the points in the second quarter.
    With 2:30 left in the first half, she sunk a two-pointer that tied Renk’s record of 1,116 points, and just before half, a floater from the free throw line dropped in, giving her the new record.
    After scoring 11 in the second quarter, she put up 12 more second half points for a game total of 23.
    She said it’s been kind of a “mental game” staying focused as everyone talked about breaking the record.
    She wasn’t keeping track of her scoring that night—she said she never does, adding with a grin that she leaves that to fellow senior Sophie Spady.
    “I was just waiting for the cheering. I felt relief once I did hit it,” she said.
    Taking off the pressure proved true because just two nights later at Kimball, McNair scored 36 points, her career high, which likely set a new school record for per-game scoring (individual girls’ game records are sketchy).

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