Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s Syndey Hauger puts up a shot over Wabasso’s Avery Carlson in Monday night’s Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball game at Springfield High School. Hauger scored her 2,000th career point in the Tigers’ win.

SPRINGFIELD — With her final bucket of the night against Wabasso on Monday night, Sydney Hauger became the first girls’ basketball player in Springfield High School history to score 2,000 career points.

The basket came in the paint with 5:09 left to play, giving the 5-7 senior guard the milestone and 34 points on the night. Behind Hauger’s big night, the Tigers went on to beat the Rabbits 64-43 in Tomahawk Conference action.

Hauger needed 34 points to reach 2,000 career points, information Tigers head coach Dillon Schultz witheld from Hauger coming into the game, but Hauger reached the milestone on the nose after a few minutes of full-court press was applied on the Rabbits. After getting that final basket inside, the buzzer sounded as the milestone was announced to the home crowd.

“I really owe it to my teammates because you can’t make all those points without passes,” Hauger said.

Working the ball around the key and finding Hauger was something the Tigers did a good job of for most of the night. While the Tigers had some trouble scoring early in the game and had to rely on Hauger scoring 12 of the first 14 points, more shots started to fall by other Springfield players the remainder of the half as Maddy Digmann and Brooklyn Sturm each hit a 3 to give the Tigers a 26-19 lead late in the first half.

In addition to her 34 points, Hauger also had 11 steals and seven rebounds. Sturm had 8 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while Sam Richert added 7 points and four boards for the Tigers.

Wabasso ended up tying it up at 26-all after a layup by Avery Carlson and a layup and 3-pointer by Bella Brand, but Hauger sank a pair of free throws with less than a second left in the half to give her 15 points and the Tigers a 28-26 lead at halftime.

Hauger drained a 3 to start the second half and then added a layup to put Springfield up 33-26, but Wabasso battled back and trailed 33-31 after a bucket inside by Ally Fenger. Fenger and Brand each led Wabasso on the night with 12 points, while Kelsey Frank had 11 points.

With neither team able to grow much of a lead, the Tigers applied a press midway through the half and increased their lead to 54-38 after Hauger’s milestone bucket. The Tigers backed off the press shortly after that as Hauger was subbed out for the first time all game, but their defense remained tough from there out.

“I really think pressing is a momentum-changer for us,” Hauger said. “We get going on defense and then it helps us on offense.”

The Tigers pushed their lead to 21, their largest lead of the night, after a bucket inside by Megan Ploeger with 1:27 left to play.

Just a month ago, Hauger passed Vishé Raab for the Springfield girls’ career scoring record. Now she’s in the 2,000-point club.

Schultz said that he was glad to see someone as dedicated as Hauger hit the milestones that she has this season.

“My first year coaching was her seventh-grade group,” Schultz said. “I’ve seen her all the way through the program, and she’s just a really great kid. An accomplishment like this, she’s really, truly deserving of it and I’m glad she got it and got to have her moment tonight because the time and hours she’s put in the gym, you’re glad to see that pay off for a great kid like her.”

Springfield is next at Westbrook to take on Westbrook-Walnut Grove Tuesday night in nonconference action, while Wabasso is at Morgan for a conference game with Cedar Mountain Friday night.