EVERETT — As the Archbishop Murphy girls basketball team started to wind down its practice on Jan. 28 with a shooting drill, one player’s reps looked substantially different than those of her teammates.
For one, this player never missed two shots in a row, swishing at a clinical rate. Add on the fact that while the majority of her teammates were taking shots from midrange, this player shot behind the arc in a fashion similar to a 3-point contest.
When it comes to scoring the basketball, Brooke Blachly has always been different. Practice drills are just the tip of the iceberg.
“I’ve just always (taken) pride in working and shooting and things like that,” Blachly told The Herald on Jan. 28. “My coaches know that. They know that I’m a shooter, and they always set me up for success, whether it’s in practices or in games. They know what plays to run. They know how to get me open.”
The 5-foot-8 senior combo guard has scored more points than anyone who has put on the Archbishop Murphy jersey, and on Saturday she reached a historic milestone on a state level.
With 30 points in the Wildcats’ 63-25 win against Squalicum in the District 1 2A semifinals at Mount Vernon High School, she eclipsed 2,000 career points. The Santa Clara commit hit the mark with around four minutes left in the game, dribbling at the top of the key before cutting in and sending up a floater.
Blachly figured she was still about four or five points away, so when Archbishop Murphy coach Ebany Herd immediately called a timeout and the gym picked up into a loud cheer, she initially felt confused. Eventually, the gravity of the moment set in.
“I was kind of like, ‘Wow, I did it,’” Blachly said in a phone call after the game on Saturday. “It was just such a surreal feeling.”
The journey to 2,000 points started when Blachly was three years old. Growing up in a basketball family, she naturally gravitated towards the sport and established herself as a high-end player from a young age.
“It’s kind of just been something I’ve always loved,” Blachly said. “It’s a sport I’ve loved, and I knew I wanted to go far in it. I knew I wanted to play in college, and it’s honestly surreal that I’m able to do that. … I think I’ve just been surrounded by so many great athletes, whether it’s my club team or girls that are older, and I know it’s always been a dream of mine.”
Long before shooting the lights out at Archbishop Murphy, Blachly was a second-grader surrounded by fourth-grade “giants” on the AAU circuit. Throughout stops with the Northwest Blazers, FOH Stuckey and Washington Premier, Blachly often played with older age groups.
Despite standing on the taller end of her own grade throughout elementary school, she had to learn how to make an impact as one of the smallest players on the court going up against bigger, more developed opponents.
By the time she reached high school, not much adjustment was needed for a 14-year-old squaring off against 18-year-olds. It was all she had ever known. That comfort out of the gate set her on the trajectory to score 2,000 points.
“As I’ve grown up, I feel like I’d consider myself kind of a shorter guard, especially compared to those in college,” Blachly said. “I think it’s just set me up to be successful. Obviously being a shooter, sometimes it’s hard when you have longer defenders on you and stuff like that, but I think just the fact that I’ve played with more grown people … I think that’s really just set me up to be a successful player, a strong player and everything.”
Entering high school, Blachly initially had a goal of scoring 1,000 points. Even after earning a spot on the varsity roster as a freshman, she felt uncertain about what her role would look like.
That uncertainty didn’t last long, as she instantly stepped into a key scoring role and has managed to elevate ever since. She received her first NCAA Division I offer during the summer of her sophomore year, which fueled her even more. With her dream of playing in college feeling more tangible, she pushed to get even better.
After scoring 380 points as a junior and earning the Wesco South 3A/2A MVP, Blachly scored 506 in the regular season this year, an average of 25.3 points per game. In the final 10 games leading up to the playoffs, she bumped her average up to 31 per game.
According to Herd, that level of success manifested itself long before high school. An AAU coach during the high school offseason, Herd remembers coaching against Blachly when she was a fourth-grader playing against sixth-graders.
Even back then, Herd had to instruct her players not to leave Blachly open because her shot was so dangerous. While Blachly has grown in many areas of the game since that time, the biggest difference between then and now is her game day accessories.
“She used to wear a little headband,” Herd said. “And she was always a shooter then too. … That’s just kind of always been her thing. She’s always been able to shoot the ball, and then as she’s gotten older, she’s really just crafted it and crafted it and crafted it. (She) just learned how to create for herself in multiple, different areas just because she is such a great shooter. And so everyone’s like, ‘We cannot let this kid shoot,’ and so she figures out how to get open on her own, or once again, her teammates are helping her.”
As much as Blachly has accomplished on her own — league MVP honors, most 3-pointers in a season and a career in the Wildcats program, among others — she’s quick to credit her teammates for helping her get there.
“They deserve as much as credit as I think I do,” Blachly said. “Because this wouldn’t be even in the question if my teammates didn’t find me, didn’t get me open, didn’t get screens. And I think, like sure, I make the shots, but they’re the ones that set me up for success.”
That said, that dynamic helps the rest of the team as much as it does Blachly. With all the attention she demands from opposing defenses, space is opened up for the rest of the team to inflict damage, whether it’s juniors Celine Wright or Kani Cham in the post or junior Ashley Fletcher in the back court.
With no shortage of secondary scoring options around Blachly, Wesco South 3A/2A opponents had few answers to stop the Wildcats as they marched to a regular-season title with an 11-1 league record.
“They’re going to be face-guarding (Blachly) and putting a lot of attention on her, so then it gives everyone else the opportunity to score the basketball and show their skills off,” Wright said. “But then also when everybody’s getting into a groove and scoring, and having (Blachly) on top of that, getting her in a groove and scoring, everything comes together.”
Blachly’s personal milestone getting checked off lines up perfectly with a massive team goal: Winning the District 1 2A Championship. The win against Squalicum puts the Wildcats into their third consecutive finals. Each of the past two appearances ended in losses to Lynden, which is their opponent once again in a battle between the top two seeds on Thursday.
“That’s our motivator this year: Beat Lynden and get past the district championship,” Fletcher said. “Even though we have three bids (to the state tournament out of District 1) this year, we still want to make it to the district championship and bring back a banner.”
While everyone in the program rooted for and contributed towards Blachly’s journey to 2,000 points, team success has always been the main focus. Come Thursday, Archbishop Murphy will be locked in on achieving another milestone.
“I don’t think anyone’s mindset is changing,” Blachly said on Saturday. “We got to give it our all.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
