Sitting at 998 career points, Ali Heinly was told by the Caldera coaches to maybe wait a bit to score the two points needed to reach 1,000 so that the team could call a timeout and let the home crowd acknowledge the milestone.

But when a player is a scorer, they don’t let chances of putting the ball in the bucket pass them by.

“The basket was calling me,” Heinly said. “So I had to go.”

Less than three minutes into the game Wednesday night, the senior guard drove to the hoop to score her 1,000th point, becoming the first Wolfpack girls player to reach the milestone. (Caldera opened in 2021.)

“I’ve spent thousands of hours in the gym and this milestone validates all of that,” Heinly said. “It makes me realize that I’ve put in the work for it.”

“Ali has always been a strong offensive threat all four years,” said Caldera girls basketball coach Pam Bradbury. “She has always scored a lot of points, leading the team offensively. She has the finesse and wants to score. It is neat to see her whole game develop as she gets better and better.”

As Heinly’s game has improved, so too have the Wolfpack. Wednesday evening, Caldera picked up its ninth win of the season, starting the Intermountain Conference schedule with a resounding 63-29 victory over Ridgeview.

The Wolfpack (9-6 overall, 1-0 IMC) blitzed the Ravens (8-7, 0-1) from the opening tip, racing to a 19-7 lead after the first quarter, then outscoring the Ravens 23-2 in the second quarter to take a 42-9 lead by halftime.

“We definitely brought the heat,” said Heinly, who finished with six points in the win. “The big thing we talked about in the locker room was bringing the heat, bringing the energy, being the first ones to attack on the court and set the tone from there. And we did that in the first half.”

Caldera’s full-court press flustered the Ravens throughout the first half. The Ravens, which had won six straight games entering IMC play, were led by sophomore Brezlyn Hagemeister’s nine points.

At this point a year ago, the Wolfpack had six wins, so there has been a three-win improvement against better opponents. Five of their six losses have come against state-title contending teams in the 5A and 4A ranks.

“It is a good dynamic,” Bradbury said. “They are all expecting a lot out of each other. They have really clear expectations for what we can do as a team. We’ve played some really strong teams and have still done really well.”

The Wolfpack want to be back in the postseason. Last year, after dropping seven of its final nine games, Caldera made its first state playoff appearance but lost to No. 2 seed Crater, 71-26. Despite the rough outcome against Crater, the eventual state runner-up, it was a positive learning experience for the young program.

“That was a tough game,” Bradbury said. “That postseason game was a great experience for us to see what is out there. I think it gave energy to the players who weren’t graduating to want to go back there. Every player expects for us to be back there, and be back there with a force.”