Leland star Sneed reaches scoring milestone.

ERIN SNEED, shown with Leland girls' basketball coach Jon
Kiessel, passed the 1,000-point mark in career scoring during
the Comets' loss against Kingsley Saturday night.

“I just wanted to get it over with,” said Leland’s Erin Sneed after scoring her 1,000th prep point on a short jumper as time expired in a 71-35 loss to Kingsley.

While there was little doubt that Sneed, a sharp-shooting guard, would climb over the 1,000-point threshold, she wanted to answer the question of when Saturday night.

Sneed, who is averaging about 17 points per outing in her senior season, entered the game with 987 points. But Leland faced a tough Kingsley squad that set its sights on stopping her from reaching the milestone against the Stags.

“They were packing in a 2-3 zone because they didn’t want me to score my 1,000th point,” said Sneed. She said a member of the Kingsley team had told her the Stags had set a goal of stopping her short of the mark.

At 998 points with 5.2 seconds left to play, Sneed stepped to the line with hopes of ending the suspense. She made the first free throw but missed the second — leaving Comet fans to believe they would have to travel to Glen Lake yesterday, Feb. 13, to witness Sneed’s 1,000th point.

But the Comets stole the ball and got it to Sneed, who didn’t let them down by scoring at the final buzzer. She entered the Laker contest with 1,001 points.

Leland coach Jon Kiessel said Sneed logged countless hours in the off-season to become a better basketball player.

“Erin worked extremely hard, especially between the final buzzer of last season and the start of this season, going to many summer camps. She’s worked extremely hard to improve her game,” said Kiessel.

The second-year Leland coach said Sneed’s accomplishment occurred on a night when the Comets gave Kingsley all it could want in the first half, and played hard for the entire game.

“The best part is we played really well, and we leave with our crowd excited,” said Kiessel.

Larry Glass, the former Northwestern University coach who became an icon for girls’ basketball in Michigan while leading Leland to three straight state titles, was not surprised at Sneed’s success. The two grew close during her freshmen and sophomore seasons, when Glass was coaching Leland and brought Sneed up to the varsity level.

Sneed had developed some bad habits in her shot that Glass believed would affect her development. It has been Glass’ observation that stellar athletes — which Sneed was — have a more difficult time changing their techniques, at least partially because they have the sheer ability to compensate for technical defects.

Sneed is not your typical stellar athlete.

“One of the things I enjoyed was she tried,” said Glass. “She had developed some things that weren’t quite right. And some times when someone is a good athlete they don’t overcome them. She did because she worked so hard at the things she needed to do.”

Another advantage Sneed brings to the court is her ability to use both hands. “If you watch her drive or dribble, you might think she was left handed,” said Glass.

Sneed, the daughter of Dr. Peter and Chris Sneed of Leland, has not confined her learning to basketball. She has a 3.956 grade point — plenty good enough to continue her basketball career next year whether or not a college offers a basketball scholarship.

Sneed plans to take her game to the collegiate level, even if she has to “walk on.” She’s talked to collegiate coaches at Denison University in Ohio and Florida Southern University.

Glass has been impressed with Sneed’s work at the high school level. “She’s become quite a good basketball player,” he said.