Secret is out; Olivia Reittinger hits 1,000-point mark

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BRANDT — A secret is never safe with a 10-year old boy.

As Bethel girls basketball coach Corey Steinke learned Monday night at the Bee Hive.

Bethel senior guard Olivia Reittinger needed 15 points to reach the 1,000-point career total for a storybook moment in her final home game.

But, he was hoping to pump her up a little more.

“He (Corey Steinke) told me before the game I needed to play the game of my life,” Olivia Reittinger, the daughter of Heather and Jeremy Reittinger, said. “So, I was thinking I was going to have to have a great game.”

That, is until Steinke’s 10-yer old son Bryce walked by as she was warming up before the game/

“He told me I needed 15 points,” Reittinger said. “I asked him what he said because I didn’t hear him and he told me I needed 15 points.”

Which Reittinger ended up hitting on the money as Bethel held on for a 55-53 win over Northwestern. Bethel will close the regular season Thursday at Yellow Springs.

“I have some more games, so I would have gotten it eventually,” Reittinger said. “But, it was really nice to do it her at home. I just want to thank all my teammates who have helped me and held me accountable — and all my coaches.”

And if knowing how many points he needed was supposed to relax Reittinger — it seemed to have the opposite effect.

“I didn’t score in the first quarter,” she said with a laugh. “So, I don’t think it helped. I think it probably made me nervous thinking about exactly what I had to do.”

Reittinger began to catch fire in the second quarter, scoring seven points.

She hit a 3-pointer and another basket early in the third quarter to get within three points of the milestone.

With 3:34 on the clock, Reittinger drilled her third 3-pointer of the night to hit 1,000 points even and the game was stopped so she could celebrate with her teammates and present the game ball to her mom.

“I knew I was at 12 and needed three points,” Reittinger said. “I saw my mom with her camera out. And everybody started cheering when it went in, so I knew. It was an emotional moment, but I didn’t cry as much as I thought I would.”

At the time, it gave Bethel a 34-24 lead, but Northwestern wouldn’t go away.

Even after Bethel had a seven-point lead in the final two minutes, it turned into a nail biter.

When Bethel missed the front end of one-and-one with six seconds to go leading 55-53, Northwestern had one last chance. But, the horn sounded before the Warriors could get a shot off.

“Give their coach credit,” Steinke said. “He is going to turn that program around. We were fortunate. It is one of the things we talk to the girls about before every game. We just take too many plays off.”

Two that don’t are Reittinger and teammate Kenna Gray, who scored her 1,000th point earlier this season.

Gray led Bethel with 18 points, Reittinger scored 15 and Karley Moore added 13 points.

“It’s amazing,” Steinke said. “To have two girls from the same class score 1,000 points. You just don’t see that very often.”

And the secret is out, after another night of celebration at the Bee Hive.

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