Sophia McCartney is a junior who participates in the Varsity Basketball program here at Saint John Neumann. Ever since the first grade, Sophia has been consistently putting in hours and hours of hard work on the court, continuously improving her skills day by day. Not only does she excel athletically, she is at the top of her class academically. She has set goals of leading her team to a state championship while also reaching the benchmark of 1,000 points in her career. Thankfully, this past Thursday, January 12, Sophia successfully scored the 1,000th point of her high-school career. She comments that the process to this achievement was “not easy”, as she has played through a broken hand and many other injuries that sometimes hindered her ability to play as best she could. The game of basketball is very physical, but requires plenty of mental stability and control as you are forced to maneuver around the opponent to get to your basket and score points. These hardships never stop her from keeping her eyes on the prize as she continues to strive for greatness on the court and in the classroom. Sophia plans on carrying her basketball career on to the collegiate level, but is undecided on the school.