Gardiner’s Maddie Farnham guards Mt. Blue’s Lexi Mittelstadt during a game in Gardiner last month. Kennebec Journal photo by Andy Molloy Buy this Photo

The task was for the students to write down their goals. Mt. Blue guard Lexi Mittelstadt, then in seventh grade, didn’t take long to make up her mind.

“We did this bucket list project in my seventh-grade English class, and that’s the main thing I put on my bucket list, was to score 1,000 points in high school,” she said.

Mittelstadt reached that milestone on Friday, scoring her 1,000th point during a 25-point outing in a 64-34 loss to Gardiner. The senior, who will be playing for the University of Maine next year, reached the landmark with her 24th point with just under three minutes remaining on the first of two free throws.

Mittelstadt was awarded the game ball and posters that were made up for her after the game ended.

“I can’t even describe the feeling,” said Mittelstadt, who also made her 100th 3-pointer in the game. “It was exciting, just knowing that I’ve had that goal for myself all these years, and I finally met that goal.”

“She’s one of those special players,” Mt. Blue coach Fred Conlogue said. “She’s worked so hard to get to that goal, and obviously to get to the goal of playing at (the University of) Maine as well.”

It nearly didn’t happen — not on Friday at least — after Mittelstadt woke up with the same flu symptoms that forced her to miss Thursday’s practice. But she wanted to reach the number at home, and she wanted to do it with her father, David, who flies to California for work, in attendance.

“I was talking with my dad and we were just trying to see how the day went,” Mittelstadt said. “I went to school that day, so that was good. … I drank, I ate, and I finally I was just like, ‘You know what, I’ll just do it.’ Then right before the game I got really focused, and I really made it a goal for myself to score the 1,000th.”

The illness didn’t hold her back that night.

“You couldn’t tell, the way she was playing,” Conlogue said. “She was making everything.”

Finally, when she was fouled going to the basket in the closing minutes, Mittelstadt had her chance. She knew what she needed before the game but had lost track along the way, so when the first free throw dropped, the reaction in the Farmington gym took her by surprise.

“(Assistant coach) Zac (Conlogue) called the ref over, and so then I finally got that feeling. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so close,'” she said. “I didn’t even know my first foul shot was going to be the final point. So at first I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ ”

Conlogue said it was a fitting moment of celebration for Mittelstadt, who’s averaging 17.1 points per game and has led the Cougars to the brink of the A North playoffs.

“This season in particular she’s really, really stepped up,” Conlogue said. “(She’s) making everyone a lot better around her. … This year we’ve had a lot more confidence, and I think she brings that to her teammates.”

RAIDERS FIGHT TO FINISH

Oak Hill is within reach of taking the No. 1 overall seed in B South for the second straight season. But for the 12-3 Raiders to overtake 11-3 Freeport for the top spot, they’ll have to weather a tough closing stretch of Mountain Valley Conference competition.

First up for the Raiders is a matchup with Hall-Dale on Tuesday, which is in 15th place in C South but one spot below the playoff cut line, and which would considerably boost its postseason odds with a win on its home court. From there, Oak Hill hosts 11-3 Monmouth Academy, which it beat 50-43 on Jan. 18, and then visits 13-2 Winthrop, which beat the Raiders 62-60 on Jan. 10.