In her four years as a starting guard, Jenny Rollins has produced some big numbers for the Central of Corinth girls basketball team.

Last week Rollins logged a huge milestone in scoring the 1,500th point of her career.

She did it during a 31-point performance in a game against Sumner of East Sullivan.

As more and more players get varsity time as freshmen, the 1,000-point level seems to be more common than in previous eras. The 1,500-point plateau, however, still seems to be a level few players reach.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “I’m just really proud of myself. I always wanted to get 1,000, that was a dream of mine. And then once I got my junior year I knew [1,000] was going to happen but I never thought I was going to get to 1,500.”

She now has 1,527 points heading into an Eastern Maine Class C preliminary game against Narraguagus of Harrington tonight.

Rollins, who has averaged around 22 points per game in the past two seasons, credited her teammates with helping her do all that scoring.

“They set me up all the time, they do plays for me, set screens,” she said. “They help me out so much. And they’re so unselfish.”

In the beginning of the season Rollins set the school’s scoring record, surpassing Ryan Rivera’s 1,195 points.

Rivera had graduated by the time Rollins got to high school, but Rivera was at the game in which she broke the career record and presented her with a case for her game ball.

Rollins was a member of the All-Maine third-team last year after helping Central get to the Class C Eastern Maine final, where she poured in a game-high 30 points in a loss to Dexter.

Expect Rollins’ 22 ppg scoring average to go up when the postseason starts as she averaged 26.3 in three tourney games last year.

Rollins said she plans to attend Husson College in Bangor next year, where she wants to play both field hockey and basketball.

Cony’s Rollins breaks mark

Meanwhile, Cony of Augusta’s Katie Rollins was making a little school history of her own last week.

Katie Rollins, who isn’t related to Central’s Jenny Rollins, broke Cony’s all-time scoring record during a game against Mt. Blue of Farmington last Tuesday.

The old record of 1,418 was held by former Rams star Amy Vachon, the daughter of Cony coach Paul Vachon.

Rollins scored 23 points in the game. Her 12th point of the night, which came in the second quarter, was the record-setter.

“Katie had scored her 1,000th last year and I knew she had a darn good shot [at the school record] of breaking it this year,” Paul Vachon said. “It wasn’t anything that was not expected.”

Rollins is averaging 22.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.

She was a third-team All-Mainer in 2003 and a first-teamer last year. Her other honors in 2003-04 include Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Gatorage Maine Player of the Year and Eastern Maine Class A tourney MVP.

Paul Vachon said his daughter’s record might have been surpassed in 2000 by Julie Veilleux, but she played in just eight games her senior year because of an injury.

Amy Vachon set the record during the 1995-96 season, her senior year. She was at the Feb. 8 game, which was a 76-33 win for the 14-0 Rams.

“Amy was really not known as a scorer. She was more of a passer,” Vachon said of his daughter, who also owns assist records she set while a standout at the University of Maine. “It was just that she was very fortunate that she got to play in a lot of games. I think four EM title games, two state championship games. The more games you play obviously the better chance you have.”

Rollins, meanwhile, is headed to Division I Harvard to play basketball next year.

“I think she did a really good job with her research as far as what she wanted,” Vachon said. “She met with the coaches, she sat down with her family, decided what was best for Katie. She did her homework. She certainly was one of the players that did more research on schools than any other player I’ve had.”

Harvard, which competes in the Ivy League, does not give athletic scholarships. In addition to the school’s excellent academic reputation, Harvard is a traditional power in Ivy League women’s basketball, with eight league titles since 1974-75. Most recently the Crimson won back-to-back titles in 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Vachon said Rollins also considered UMaine.

Dalrymple’s DQ has silver lining

One of the most notable swims in Saturday’s Penobscot Valley Conference girls championship meet didn’t appear in the final results.

Ellsworth’s Amy Dalrymple touched in with the fastest time in the 200-yard individual medley, but her time didn’t count because she was disqualified for an incorrect turn in the backstroke leg.

The DQ was disappointing to the Eagles junior, but the time – and the way in which she finished the race – were anything but.

Dalrymple’s seed time of 2:24.89 was third-best in the fastest heat of the IM, and so she was in lane 2 with Bangor’s Erica Simpson in lane 3 and MDI’s Iris Meehan in lane 4.

Simpson’s top-seeded time was about three seconds faster than Dalrymple’s, and Dalrymple was behind in the backstroke before making up some time in the third (breaststroke) leg.

She zoomed ahead in the freestyle, seemingly coming out of nowhere to beat Meehan and Simpson. Dalrymple’s time on the clock was 2:24.14 – three-quarters of a second better than her seed time.

Her split in the freestyle was 32.74, compared to Meehan’s 34.43 and Simpson’s 36.23. Meehan wound up with the win and Simpson was second.

“I always come back in the freestyle. I knew I was behind but I knew I could get close,” Dalrymple said. “I was so excited. I was seeded third so I was expecting second or third, not first. When I realized I won, I was so excited.”

That time wouldn’t count because of her backstroke turn, but she was still elated with the time and to finish ahead of swimmers from powerhouse teams like Class A Bangor and Class B MDI.

In a way, it’s a good effort to take into next week’s Class B state meet.

“Now I know I can do it for states,” she said. “And in my heart, I know I won.”

Dalrymple also led off Ellsworth’s fourth-place 200 medley relay team, finished third in the 100 backstroke, and led off Ellsworth’s fourth-place 400 free relay squad. The Eagles finished sixth overall.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.