The junior guard’s big moment ended up being one of many highlights for the Knights as they went on to down the Warriors 85-55 on the final day of the St. Mary’s Tip-Off Invitational.

Fischer, who finished the game with 14 points, said the milestone was a goal of hers from a young age as she spent practicing in the gym with her dad.

“It means a lot,” Fischer said. “Ever since I was a kid I’ve been working in the gym with my dad and that’s always been one of our goals because I knew as our team, we would build as years went on and so I wanted to be the best that I could for my team. Scoring 1,000 was one of my goals, so it’s super exciting to reach because I’ve worked so hard at it.”

The Knights were tested early by the Warriors but pulled away midway through the opening half and got into rhythm. Fischer’s milestone 3-pointer, assisted by Sidney Tauer, put the Knights up 20, 43-23.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Natalie Fischer goes up for a layup Saturday in a nonconference girls basketball game against BOLD at St. Mary’s High School.

“Sidney Tauer was the one who passed it to me,” Fischer said. “We had talked about that at halftime in the locker room and I said, ‘You got my assist for my 1,000,’ so it’s just super nice to have a teammate that you’ve played with so long give you that assist. It’s super special.”

Sophomore Morgan Mathiowetz continued her dominant play with a game-high and career-high 46 points while adding eight rebounds, four assists and six steals. Freshman Olivia Schieffert added 15 points, seven rebounds and two steals also for the Knights, while the team’s lone senior Amelia Schwartz pulled in 10 rebounds.

The Knights took an early 15-7 lead after a steal and number from Fischer, forcing a BOLD timeout with less than 14 minutes left in the half. The Warriors rolled out of that timeout with 3s from Lilly Henriksen, who led BOLD with 17 points.

A block by Kya Elfering then led to a fast-break layup by Lainey Braulick, who finished the game with 13 points. Braulick was also fouled on the layup but couldn’t hit the extra free throw, making it a tie game at 15-all.

BOLD had it tied again moments later at 19-19, but the Knights ended the half with a 26-8 run to lead 45-27 at halftime. That final 26-8 run to end the half saw 16 points from Mathiowetz, including a buzzer-beating layup by her.

That big halftime lead only increased for the Knights out of the break, with a 3 from Schieffert putting her team up 30, 75-45. Braulick got a 3 back for the Warriors after that, but Mathiowetz quickly took over again by scoring every point in a 10-0 run that gave the Knights a 37-point lead, 85-48, their largest lead of the game. With a BOLD timeout with 5:41 left to play, Knights head coach Bruce Woitas subbed out his remaining starters and got every player on his bench on the floor before the final horn.

The Knights, now 2-0 to start the season, earned a double-digit win over Waterville-Elysian-Morristown on Friday, 76-54, and now dominated a solid section opponent in BOLD.

Starting the season off with wins like that is just one small step towards the Knights’ list of goals.

“We knew coming into the season that we had a lot of goals,” Fischer said. “We wanted to win our conference and then we want to be section champs and get to state, so we have such high goals and so our team works really hard together. We’re all super good friends on and off the court, too, which helps because then you get to gel together a little bit more.”

The Knights don’t play again until they host Sleepy Eye at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3, in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division game. BOLD dropped to 1-1 with the loss and play at Yellow Medicine East on Tuesday, Nov. 26.