Jan. 17 update: Rachel Skoza scored 14 points Friday night against conference opponent DeLand-Weldon in a 61-28 Uni win. She surpassed 1,000 points about a minute into the second half on a layup that gave her 1,001. She finished the night with 1,003 career points. Today she scored 24 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in a 60-52 nonconference road win over Donovan. She now has 1,027 career points, one point behind fourth-place all-time Uni female scorer Molly Smith ('05).

IN THE HISTORY of Uni girls basketball, only four players have scored 1,000 career points. Later today, senior Rachel Skoza has a great shot at joining the club.

When the Illineks (10-6, 4-1 East Central Illinois Conference) take on DeLand-Weldon at 5 p.m. in Kenney Gym, Skoza will need only 11 points to reach the 1,000-point mark.

The only other players to reach that mark are Sophia Neely (Class of '86), Amanda Smeltzer ('97), Lis Pollock ('99) and Molly Smith ('05). Skoza says Smith inspired her to get to this point.

"My freshman year Merf [head coach Rebecca Murphy] asked each of us what goals we had for the season or throughout our careers," recalled Skoza, a 6-foot-1 post player who gets most of her points inside. "I really wanted to score 1,000 points because I had heard Molly Smith had done that the year I was a subbie.

“To tell the truth I didn't think it would be possible for me, but as each season went on I was scoring more, so that gave me the motivation."

Neely, an all-stater who went on to star at Dartmouth, is Uni's all-time career scoring leader, male or female, with 1,967 points from 1982 to 1986 (24.5 points per game).

Smeltzer, better known to current Uni students by her married name of Amanda Palla, is second on the girls list with 1,272 points (1993-97, 15.0 ppg). She coached Uni varsity volleyball from 2005 to 2008; her teams set school records for wins and winning percentage.

Pollock is third on the list with 1,152 points (1995-99, 14.0 ppg). Smith is fourth with 1,028 points (2001-05, 11.4 ppg).

Skoza is currently averaging 11.9 ppg for her career. She scored 158 as a freshman, 237 as a sophomore, and 361 as a junior. So far this season Skoza has scored 233 points, averaging 15.5 per game.

The Illineks come into today's contest having won five of their last six matchups. This is the first of two games against conference opponent DeLand-Weldon this month.

The game was originally scheduled for Thursday night, but it was moved to today after extreme weather conditions forced the cancellation of school yesterday.

A long night at Kenney Gym begins at 5 when the girls tip off, followed by the boys JV game immediately afterward. The evening will end with the boys varsity game. All Uni teams will take on their DeLand-Weldon counterparts.

As part of Spirit Week, admission is half-price.