Tavia Rooney is about to make history
Coming into the 2022-2023 season Montana Tech women’s basketball has had 21 players that have scored 1,000 points or more in their career.
Tavia Rooney will be the 22nd.
After bucketing 18 points against Northern Thursday and following that with 24 in Dillon, Tavia Rooney sits at 999 total points in her career. (Teammate Dani Urick is the only other active player on that thousand point list with 1162.)
It’s impossible to overstate what Tavia has meant to Montana Tech. During her freshman year, she was voted Honorable Mention in the Frontier Conference All-Conference balloting. She was also named freshman of the year, averaging 11 points and 11 rebounds a game.
Her sophomore season was shortened to just 7 games due to injury, but again she averaged 11 points and 8 rebounds for the season.
Last year was an incredibly strong season for Tavia, getting 12 points and 9.4 rebounds per contest. She finished the year with 10 double-doubles, including an 18-point and 15-rebound contest at Lewis Clark State. To finish the year, Tavia was named to the Second Team All-Frontier Conference Team.
Tavia entered this year with a bullseye squarely on her back. Every team knowing that they had to limit her touches. Her season started strong, averaging 14 points a game. Then conference hit and she went into another gear, averaging 17 points a game on 49% shooting. She has been held to single digit scoring only twice since December 1.
Getting to the 1,000 point mark is going to be a huge accomplishment, but there is a lot more to discuss about Tavia Rooney, and the Montana Tech record book.
She currently sits at #3 in Tech history in total rebounds, with 749. Kaylee Zard is #2 with 790 and the Great DJ, Deann Johnson is #1 with 918.
Tavia is #2 on the all-time steals list, with 148 currently. Hattie Thatcher is #1 with 160.
As of today she has 109 blocked shots, which is good for #2 in school history, behind Kelsey DeWit’s 139.
She is #6 on the list of made free throws, with 232, and #9 for number of career field goals with 370
And I kid you not, that’s not all. You can look at the full list of Tech records HERE. (remember those numbers do not include this season)
I asked Coach Graham to talk about Tavia and her impact, "It's been fun to watch her adjust to the offense since Christmas break. She's getting good looks on the perimeter and beating them off the dribble if they come up. She's also still a monster on the block"
"Her offensive play has really opened up her teammates as well. She does a great job finding the open person"
I also asked Assistant Coach John Thatcher about his time with Tavia. "Not only is she an outstanding player, she in an outstanding person. I sincerely appreciate the work and time that she has put in to basketball, and to her Nursing degree. I am proud of her work ethic, and I love coaching her"
The Orediggers are on the road for 2 games this week, at Rocky Thursday, and in Helena for Carroll Saturday. They will be back at home on January 26th to host Providence. Hopefully we will see you in the gym, because you do not want to miss an opportunity to watch Tavia and this Orediggers team play.
Oh, and did I mention that Tavia is only a Junior?
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