Greenfield’s Katie Haselton has been gunning for Ann Brissette’s scoring mark since she was just a little kid.
Brissette — who held the Green Wave girls basketball scoring record of 1,333 points from 1990 until 2019 when Raegen Hickey broke it — has been close friends with Haselton’s mom since high school. Once Haselton started playing basketball at a young age, she set out to break that lofty scoring mark, telling Brissette repeatedly she would do so.
Going into this season, Haselton sat at 1,272 points, needing 62 points to break Brissette’s mark. It took her just three games to reach it, as a 16-point performance in the opener against Mahar and a 25-point game against Pioneer put her at 1,313 points. Needing 21 points to top the mark, Haselton scored 26 points on Tuesday against Athol to achieve the goal she set out to accomplish at a young age.
“It’s always been mine and [Brissette’s husband] Pete’s joke, he’s encouraged me since I was five that I need to break Ann’s record because he was sick of her talking about it,” Haselton said. “When I reached 1,000 points, her record was my next milestone to hit and I was super excited to catch it.”
Going into the game, Haselton had forgotten just how close she was to breaking 1,333 points in her career. It was her coach, John Hickey, who pulled her out of the game in the third quarter to congratulate her.
After the game, she got a call from an ecstatic Brissette, who was watching online and certainly would have been there in person to witness it if fans were allowed at Green Wave games this winter.
“As she got older and started pouring in points she said she was coming for me,” Brissette said. “She had said it so many times that she was going to break my record, she had to back it up. She’s a very, very determined person, she’s a super hard worker and she has a kind heart. I’m not surprised at all with what she’s accomplished.”
If this was a normal season with the typical number of games, Haselton would have had her eyes set on much higher goals. The first would have been a sectional championship in her senior year, but that isn’t possible as there aren’t any postseason tournaments this season.
The senior also would have her eyes set on some personal milestones after she caught Brissette. Raegan Hickey, her former teammate, finished her Greenfield career with 1,522 points while current boys basketball coach Angelo Thomas has the overall school record of 1,684. In a regular season, breaking both their records certainly would have been achievable. Last season, she finished with 435 points while averaging 20.7 points per game. Currently averaging 22.3 points in her three games this year, that would have had her on pace to more than clear Thomas’ mark.
With only a handful of games left, and just three played so far, reaching Hickey and Thomas might be out of the picture, but catching Brissette wasn’t a bad second option.
“After last season, Coach [John] Hickey did the numbers and told me I was on track to take over the school record which I didn’t think I could do,” Haselton said. “With the season being so short, catching Ann was my milestone to hit. There were other records I wanted to hit but it just won’t happen with the season being cut so short.”
When Haselton was selected to the varsity team as an eighth grader, choosing her number wasn’t difficult.
The No. 4 jersey was available, the same number Brissette wore with Greenfield, so she took it and has been wearing it since.
“Although she isn’t blood, I consider her family,” Haselton said. “She’s been in my life ever since I was born. It’s cool I’ve been able to wear the same number as her.”
Brissette was in the hospital the day Haselton was born, and she’d tell you her basketball skills rubbed off on her when she held her for the first time.
Science might not agree, but it didn’t take Haselton long to impress on the court the same way Brissette did.
“We knew Katie was going to be really good early on,” Brissette said. “When she was playing basketball with the boys when she was little like I did, I knew she could play. If you can play with the boys, you can score a lot of points in high school. Katie has been shooting a basketball for as long as I can remember. She has a lot of innate basketball talent.”
Haselton started playing with the Green Wave in the eighth grade, forming a dominating trio with Hickey and Sam Smith.
Once Hickey and Smith graduated in 2019, it opened the door for Haselton as a junior to take over as the top scoring option, a spot she’s thrived in ever since.
“I never really thought I would be as high up in scoring as I am,” Haselton said. “Playing with Raegan and Sam, I learned so much and we all would share the scoring. Once they left, I had to take on more of the scoring role. Once I got to 1,000 points, it was more motivation to keep going.”
Brissette gave her pointers growing up about how to play the game, always motivating her to reach her potential.
“She gave me little tips about sportsmanship and different ways to keep the ball to yourself and make moves,” Haselton said. “Same with Pete, he’s always been there as well and given me motivation over the years. They’ve been telling me forever I can do it and I finally made it a reality.”