Ashley Brown was the last to know what was about to happen. But she was the first to show her excitement.

When Lumpkin County’s junior forward stepped on the floor last Saturday night against Lakeview Academy, she knew the 1,000-point plateau was only a matter of time, but didn’t have an accurate picture of how close she really was.

Coming into the game in Dahlonega, her teammates said she needed 27 more points to get to 1,000 in her career.

So, Brown relaxed assuming it would take at least two more games to hit that mark.

So when Brown scored her 16th point of the game on a drive to the basket and layup, she was surprised when they stopped the game. Lumpkin County’s team fudged the truth of how close she was so she wouldn’t be hung up on hitting that milestone basket.

"I had no clue that I only needed 16 points," Brown said. "They did that just so I wouldn’t worry about it."

As it turned out, she scored 27 points anyway in leading the Lady Indians to a 44-38 win.

When Brown became just the fourth player in Lumpkin County girls basketball history to score 1,000 points they stopped the game to present a plaque, flowers and a banner from the team to remember the moment.

Brown says joining the 1,000-point club is nice. But Lumpkin County’s leading scorer has her focus set on leaving as the all-time leading scorer in school history. Brown says she needs about 300 more points to break the Lady Indians’ all-time scoring record.

Brown has played consistently all season long for the Lady Indians. Her season high was 29 points against West Forsyth on Dec. 27. She credits her play on the AAU level with the Georgia Pistols with helping make her a better player. Brown has played with this Atlanta-based program for the past seven years.

Brown says she would still like to get better at shooting jump shots.

"Everyone knows I’m going to drive to the basket," Brown added.

And with such an accomplished high school career in progress, this Lumpkin County standout is already starting to think about playing at the next level.

Brown already has offers on the table to play basketball from Kansas State, Hofstra, Jacksonville and Furman. She also received questionnaires enquiring about interest from Tennessee and North Carolina State. And getting an offer from the Lady Vols is just what she has in mind. Since seeing Tennessee’s women win a national championship, she’s been a huge Lady Volunteer fan.

"I would love to go play at Tennessee," Brown said.