Roland Park coach Scott Buckley earned his 300th career victory Wednesday night, becoming just the 20th Baltimore-area girls basketball coach to reach the milestone.
Buckley, a Towson native who played basketball at Towson High, has coached the Reds for 19 years. This season, he guided them to the first No. 1 girls basketball ranking in school history.
The 300 milestone came with a 70-51 win at Seton Keough as the Reds remained undefeated in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference, the area's most competitive conference.
"What I'm most proud about is the fact that we play in the league we play in and it's competitive every night," said Buckley, 49. "I think it's a sign of what really good teams Roland Park has had over the years."
In addition to Buckley's milestone, senior Lindsey Edwards scored her 1,000th career point Wednesday night. The All-Metro forward-guard needed 18 points to reach 1,000 and scored 20. Her 1,002 points rank fifth on the Reds' all-time scoring list.
Having Edwards reach her milestone Wednesday made his that much more special, Buckley said.
"I think the timing of [reaching 300] now is perfect with the way we're playing," he said. "We're at such a high level and there's a lot of other accolades to come, I think, and Lindsey scoring her 1,000th point tonight was very special. The other thing is I really like my team. I'm not saying that as they're-good-so-I-like-my-team, it's a great group of kids and I enjoy being around them. It makes it so much more fun."
The Reds improved to 12-2 and 5-0 in the A Conference. They went on an early 15-0 run to lead 23-4 at the end of the first quarter and maintained a double-digit lead throughout. Jaia Alexander led the Reds with 25 points and eight rebounds while Michala Clay had 11 points, 10 rebounds and five steals.
In addition to Buckley and Kilpatrick, seven other active girls basketball coaches have won more than 300 games – Arundel's Lee Rogers, St. Frances' Jerome Shelton, River Hill's Teresa Waters, Catonsville's Mike Mohler, Mount Hebron's Scott Robinson, Harford Christian's Brian Akers and Dunbar's Wardell Selby.