Baldwin breaks all-time women’s basketball county points record
Published 3:01 pm Friday, January 17, 2025
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At the beginning of the current high school basketball season, Albemarle senior point guard Amari Baldwin had three career scoring records within her reach.
She achieved the first of those three records by setting the school’s record for career points in women’s basketball, and set her sights Tuesday on the county’s overall women’s career record.
With her 25 points in the 63-22 home win versus Mount Pleasant, Baldwin passed the previous record of 2,042 points, set in 1996 by South Stanly’s Latoya Wilson.
Baldwin now trails the all-time men’s or women’s county basketball scoring record by 124 points heading into Friday’s road game at Gray Stone. Bryson Childress set the mark of 2,187 points in 2018.
Breaking Wilson’s record, which had stood for 29 years, made her very happy, according to Baldwin.
When asked about setting the mark as a guard versus Wilson, who was a taller post player, Baldwin said, “I can just play in any position. Size doesn’t matter; you go into the gym and work hard.”
Baldwin also averages 4.5 assists per game, helping generate offense for the team, which she says happens because “you have to be willing to risk it…you have to give your all, your blood, sweat and tears.”
Defensively, Baldwin averages 7.6 steals per game and 7.4 rebounds, with numbers in games get close to averaging a triple-double.
As she approaches Childress’ record, Baldwin said “it really shows what I can do, that I can do anything I put my mind to doing.”
Baldwin credits her teammates for their efforts in breaking the record, saying “we just all have the same mindset. They just kept me in control and stuff. They’ve all just been pushing me to get to my goal.”
Baldwin, when asked about teammate Jasmine Brown being within 52 points of 1,000 for her career, said “we feed off each other. We both know we’ve got goals to accomplish.”
Head coach Eric Davis said this year’s team, sitting at 10-4 overall and fifth in the 1A West standings, “is extremely unselfish. We’ve been blessed since we’ve been here to have a great group of unselfish girls that play hard and love each other. It truly is a family. They play for each other.”
Davis also credited many of the team’s “unsung heroes,” mentioning Karrington Baldwin, who “goes out and does everything that nobody else wants to do. Her energy is infectious among everybody else.”
When asked about the team’s potential this season and into the playoffs, Baldwin said, “we’re going all the way.”
Davis agreed, saying “we’re really close. You’ve got to have some luck with it, but I believe that we can.”