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Alyssa Klepacki of Smith Academy receives flowers and a kiss from her father, John, after she scored her 1,000th career point against Greenfield Friday in Hatfield. Smith Academy won 51-28.

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Alyssa Klepacki, center, celebrates with her Smith Academy teammates and with her coach, Ted Wilcox, after scoring her 1,000th career point Friday against Greenfield in Hatfield. The Falcons won 51-28.

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Alyssa Klepacki of Smith Academy, center, celebrates reaching her 1,000-point milestone with her mother, Katherine, right, as Susan Bartlett, left, holds a sign Friday at Smith Academy in Hatfield. Bartlett is the mother of Klepacki's teammate, Ashley Higgins.

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Alyssa Klepacki of Smith Academy receives the game ball from Smith Academy athletic director Dave Keir after she scored her 1,000th career point against Greenfield Friday in Hatfield. Smith Academy won 51-28.

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Alyssa Klepacki of Smith Academy lines up the shot that will give her the 1,000th point of her career Friday.

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Alyssa Klepacki of Smith Academy receives flowers and a kiss from her mother, Katherine, after she scored her 1,000th career point against Greenfield Friday in Hatfield. Smith Academy won 51-28.

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Amanda Hebert of Smith Academy, left, and Aliona Olaru of Greenfield go after a loose ball Friday in Hatfield. Smith Academy won 51-28.

HATFIELD - For all the double and triple teams Alyssa Klepacki has seen this season, her 1,000th point came on one of the most wide open shots she's ever had.

The Greenfield defense lost the Smith Academy girls basketball senior center for a moment on the right post and point guard Danielle Duseau fired a bullet pass underneath.

"I was thinking that I better make this one," Klepacki said. "If I missed that one, that wouldn't be good."

Klepacki caught the ball, pivoted and flipped her shot off the backboard and in with 4 minutes, 41 seconds left in the third quarter of Thursday night's 51-28 win over the Green Wave.

The basket set off a loud and prolonged celebration that included Klepacki receiving a game ball, flowers, hugs, kisses, balloons, more hugs and a standing ovation.

"It really meant so much," Klepacki said of the support. "It's one of the greatest days of my life. That might sound cliche, but it really is. I was very thankful for everything that happened today. I'm a pretty emotional person. There were a few tears. It was overwhelming."

Klepacki finished with 26 points and 21 rebounds. Klepacki has three straight games with 25 or more points and two straight with at least 20 rebounds. She has 11 double-doubles in 13 games this season.

It was a festive night inside Sherry A. Webb Gymnasium, as Klepacki's classmates, family and friends cheered, sang and danced as she worked her way to the 18 points she needed and beyond. A large sign in the corner next to the pep band counted along, updated by the school's cheerleaders.

"It was nice to see. (Everyone) turned out for it," Smith coach Ted Wilcox said. "It's nice to see the community come out for it. It says a lot about the community."

Klepacki became the 20th player overall and seventh girl to reach the mark in school history. Lynne-Ann Kokoski holds the school record with 2,124 career points.

"It is such an honor to be up there with such great athletes," said Klepacki, the first female Falcon to reach 1,000 since Christa Sikorski in 2004. "They are so highly respected and I'm just glad I could do it. It's a big part of the team. I'm very thankful to have a really good support system with a great team, a great coach, all the past teams, family and friends. I couldn't have done it without all of them."

Klepacki and the Falcons battled some early nerves with the milestone looming large and the standout center missed a handful of shots she normally makes.

"It's a new vibe. I was very excited and I wasn't able to focus much," Klepacki said. "It was hard (at school), I tried to focus as well as I could and do everything normally because I wanted to play the way I normally do."

She scored five points in the first quarter, capped off with a big block on the defensive end that she turned into a coast-to-coast layup late in the frame.

Klepacki got going in the second with seven points in the first 3:37 and two more on an offensive rebound with 48 seconds left before halftime.

"We forced it too much," Wilcox said. "We talked at halftime about letting the game come to her, and I thought we did a better job in the second half of letting the game come to her. We were forcing the ball into her and that's not the way we want to play."

She got to within two points of the mark with an inside basket with 5:32 left in the third and then hit the number when Duseau found her wide open underneath.

"I don't want to say it was a relief, but I'm glad I could get it at home and there's less pressure now," Klepacki said.

Cassidy Snyder finished with 10 points, while Duseau had seven for Smith (7-6, 6-6 Franklin South), which needs three wins in its challenging season-ending seven-game stretch in order to qualify for the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament for the fourth straight year.

"I would very much like to get there," Klepacki said. "It's been a great last season with such really great teammates and we want to make it a memorable one. Whatever happens, I've been very lucky to have everything I've had."

Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.