Teya Sidberry was hoping to make senior night a special one on Thursday, and that’s exactly what she did.
When the Judge Memorial senior — and University of Utah women’s basketball signee — banked in a lay-up with 1:37 remaining against Providence Hall, she officially became the greatest high school basketball score in Utah state history.
She needed 40 points to tie Julie Krommenhoek’s career scoring record of 2,384 points and that lay-up officially gave her 42 points in the 94-33 victory over outmatched Providence Hall.
A couple weeks ago in an 83-36 win over Providence Hall, Sidberry set a scoring single-game state record as she poured in 56 points to go along with her 16 rebounds and 12 assists. The previous record was 55.
“Teya Sidberry is a incredible young lady. She is well deserving of this with all the work she puts in. Teya is so special in a lot of ways,” said Judge coach Josh Pike. “The one that stick out to me is she is incredibly determined in life, all I know is that this will not be the last time you hear that name. You will hear about Teya for years. I am so, so blessed that she chose me as her coach. Love that girl like she is my own.”
Sidberry has recorded a double-double in 19 of 20 games for Judge this year.
Krommenhoek’s career record had stood firm for over 25 years after her remarkable four-year career at American Fork from 1990 to 1994. Krommenhoek went on to be a three-time All-American honorable mention at the University of Utah and is still the career scoring average leader at Utah with a four-year career average of 17.8.
Sidberry will look to follow that same career trajectory next year as a freshman at the University of Utah.
Sidberry’s scoring has gone up every year she’s been at Judge Memorial, increasing from 21.5 ppg to 23.3 ppg to 29.6 ppg to 36.0 this season.
Judge Memorial has two more regular season games remaining, both on the road next week at American Leadership and Summit Academy. Assuming Sidberry’s undefeated team follows it up with a four-game run in the state tournament, she’ll easily surpass 2,500 career points and put the new career scoring record on a peak no boy or girl will ever reach.
The career scoring record for boys basketball in Utah belongs to Gunnison’s Gary Hill, who scored 2,283 career points from 1959 to 1963.
From here on out, more important than any records for Sidberry will be winning a state championship that’s eluded her Judge team the past three years.