On Feb. 19, Lauren Rogers placed herself in elite company.
While playing a home game against Wayland Baptist University, Rogers hit her 1,000th career point – a feat shared by only 15 other John Brown University Women’s Basketball players to ever play for the school.
“It was pretty cool,” said Rogers. “It’s a pretty neat achievement to get during my college career.”
According to Jeff Soderquist, JBU’s Women’s Basketball coach, the milestone is a testament to the kind of player Rogers is, especially when looking at her entire college basketball career.
“She’s just a good all-around player,” said Soderquist. “She’s done a good job for us all four years that she’s played. She’s battled some injuries, she’s missed some games. I think it was her sophomore year that she only played 24 or 25 games. It speaks a lot to how hard she plays. She’s a very tough kid.”
But Rogers is not terribly concerned with her milestone. While hitting the 1,000-point mark is impressive, she is far more concerned about her team’s success.
“Honestly, for me, the individual achievements aren’t nearly as important as team achievements,” said Rogers. “[Scoring 1,000 points] was a neat achievement, but at the same time, going through this year, I would have liked to have had more wins as a team. For me, the team achievements are more important.”
Rogers’ humility and team-mindedness is apparent to everyone. Brooke Barker, one of Rogers’ teammates, said she didn’t even know about Rogers approaching 1000 points until around a week before the game against Wayland Baptist.
“But that’s how Lauren is. She doesn’t brag and is very humble,” said Barker in an email interview. “As long as the team does well, she is happy. I was not even aware; she never brought it up and said anything like, ‘Hey guys, guess what? I’m nearing 1000 points in my career!’ Nothing like that. So having such a humble teammate when she is incredibly talented is really great.”
When she talked about her 1,000 points, Rogers recognized that the achievement was largely due to the rest of the team as well.
“You have to have your teammates around helping you,” said Rogers. “Eliana (Fernandez) had a ton of assists this year, so I never would have hit that 1,000-point mark without her and other people passing the ball. Last year, we were able to make a run at the end. Without those extra games getting to nationals, I probably wouldn’t have been able to obtain it this year. If other people aren’t scoring as well, I’m not going to get the shot opportunities, either.”
According to her teammate Barker, Rogers scoring 1,000 points is something that she personally has earned well.
“Her dedication to the sport and to our team is amazing,” said Barker. “Lauren has stayed positive and optimistic through it all. She always encourages us to keep fighting and to stick to what we do. Her accomplishment is so well-deserved.”