By Janelle Fisher
City Pages Editor
GREEN BAY – As Green Bay Southwest took the court on Dec. 14, Addison Pytleski was only 18 points away from reaching a major milestone in her high school career… scoring her 1,000th point.
Pytleski is the team’s leading scorer, averaging about 23 points per game on the season.
“When I grew up, I always watched my brothers,” she said. “And both my brothers [are] on the board and I’m the third. Once I saw them do it, I knew I could do it.”
Pytleski had two older brothers score their 1,000th career points playing for Southwest — Will in February of 2018 and Connor in December of 2022 — but that didn’t make her achievement any less thrilling.
“I was really excited for it to happen,” she said. “Super excited, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”
In addition to Pytleski, Southwest Head Varsity Coach Corey Girdaukas said there are several players on this year’s team that stand out.
“Chloey, you know Chloey (Bynum) does her thing,” he said. “She’s the point guard. She missed her last year because of a torn ACL, so this is her swan song for high school… She didn’t play last year and she’s playing phenomenal… Alex (Siudzinski) does everything for us — rebound, steals, defense and she can score… And Emma (Szarowicz) is Emma. She played really well tonight… She’s a very nice kid and happens to be six feet tall with long arms. She’s a great compliment to what we have on the team.”
Even with a strong team supporting her, when it came to her 1,000th point, it was all up to Pytleski.
With 14 seconds left on the clock, Pytleski was just three points away from 1,000 and a foul by Pulaski left her with an opportunity to make three free throws.
“At the end of it on a cliffhanger, it felt good to hit those three,” she said. “The pressure was a lot. The thing that was going through my head was just, “Make the first one, and then keep the momentum for a second and third.”
And Pytleski did exactly that — she made one free throw, then made the second and then, with the entire crowd silenced by anticipation, made the third.
With her 1,000th point behind her, Pytleski said she already has her sights set on the next goal — a goal shared by Girdaukas.
“I’d like to take second in conference and then go get that regional flag,” she said. “We’re shooting for that regional flag.”
“I want to go for it all in the conference,” Girdaukas said, “We were 3-0… We’ve got some games coming up that are going to be really tough.”
The way to achieve that goal, Girdaukas said, is to focus on coaching the team in front of him.
“Like I told the girls, I coach my team,” he said. “I don’t coach Pulaski. That’s just the way it is. I don’t coach East. I don’t coach Notre Dame. I coach Southwest and I’m very happy with the effort they give me in practice and in games. They are a very together family. It helps to have senior girls that have played a couple years and come back out. I’m sure they’re not regretting it. They’re having a blast the same as I am… There’s so much to look forward to.”
Southwest travels to Appleton North at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 26.