CROSBY, MINN. - During halftime of Crosby-Ironton’s game against Mille Lacs on Jan. 20, senior point guard Tori Oehrlein and her Rangers teammates cheered as elementary school basketball players faced off on the court.

When the young girls wrapped up the intermission entertainment and swarmed the varsity team for high-fives, over the public address system came a telling remark.

“Who knows? There might be another all-time scoring leader out there.”

But for now, Minnesota girls basketball’s all-time scoring leader is Oehrlein herself.

In Crosby-Ironton’s 124-37 victory, Oehrlein, a Gophers commit, rewrote the state’s girls basketball career scoring record. A driving layup and a made free throw after being fouled with 4:28 remaining in the first half gave Oehrlein the 34 points she needed to surpass the 5,060 points scored by Braham’s Rebekah Dahlman from 2008-13.

Oehrlein, who was subbed out to a standing ovation with less than six minutes left in the game, finished with a career-high 57 points. She now has 5,085 career points.

Former Lakeview Christian Academy boys basketball player Anders Broman owns the state’s all-time career record at 5,119 points, accumulated from 2008-13.

The scenes that followed in the packed gym two hours north of Minneapolis were both a celebration of Oehrlein’s Crosby-Ironton career and the hope for the program’s future.

“It means a lot to wear Crosby across my chest,” said Oehrlein, ranked the nation’s No. 58 recruit in her class by ESPN. “I think this town is a basketball town, and I’m just glad that girls basketball is on the map again for Crosby. … I think we can keep it going.”

“None of us have been here before”

How do you celebrate breaking the state scoring record? Rangers head coach Pete Vukelic wasn’t sure, but he knew that Oehrlein, averaging 41.5 points over her last six games, had a good shot at reaching Dahlman’s mark on Jan 20.

“None of us have been here before,“ Vukelic said. “I didn’t want to disappoint.”

Two points from the record with the Rangers ahead by double digits, Oehrlein attempted three three-pointers — the type of basket that had pushed her past 4,000 points, then 5,000 — but the shots hit the rim to the sound of hopeful gasps.

“There, I felt a little bit like I was forcing it, so I just had to stop and let it come,” Oehrlein said.

A layup tied the record before her record-breaking free throw.

When Vukelic had practiced his speech, he realized tears were inevitable.

So, instead, he put together a short slide show that played on the gym’s scoreboard screen. The presentation showed Oehrlein’s career milestones while Vukelic’s narration emphasized how proud their community was of the senior.

“I’m grateful … doing it in front of amazing people who have supported me along the way,” Oehrlein said.

Dahlman made the trip to present Oehrlein with a plaque and flowers, which Oehrlein said afterward was the most memorable moment of the evening.

“It just was an honor to meet her,” Oehrlein said.

The Gophers were on a West Coast swing with games at Washington and Oregon, but head coach Dawn Plitzuweit was present for Oehrlein reaching the 5,000-point mark at Ogilvie on Jan. 16.

After the brief break for recognizing the milestone, Oehrlein then had to shoot the extra foul shot from her layup. She said the referee who bounced her the ball told her, “Now, you can’t miss that free throw.”

She sunk it.

How Oehrlein reached the record

On a wall inside the Rangers’ gym, next to a banner recognizing Oehrlein as the state’s all-time leading rebounder, another banner lists every Rangers girls basketball player with 1,000 career points.

The 14 names are printed next to each player’s career scoring total, except Oehrlein’s, still being tallied until the end of what she hopes is a fourth consecutive state tournament appearance for the Rangers.

When Oehrlein started playing varsity basketball as a seventh-grader, she said she only had her sights set on 1,000 points and 1,000 assists. She and Providence Academy senior Maddyn Greenway, who is also nearing 5,000 points, are the only girls players in state history to surpass 1,000 in points, assists and rebounds.

Watching Oehrlein play, it’s easy to see how quadruple-doubles stack up with steals at half-court, cleanup rebounding and full-court outlet passes. She also holds the state’s single-game assist record at 21.

“She’s going to make you better,” Vukelic said. “That’s plain and simple. She wants her teammates to shoot, wants the offense to flow, whatever it will take to win.”

Oehrlein began the season with 4,427 career points. The game against Mille Lacs was the 165th of her career, and she now carries a career scoring average of 30.8 points per game.

“It just feels so surreal,” she said. “It wasn’t like scoring was a big thing for me, and it’s just like passing, rebounding, doing all the little things in the game. Knowing that the team needed me to score more was how it happened.”

Grassroots growth

With the game paused for Oehrlein’s celebration, the senior clambered into the stands to hug her parents. After the final buzzer, her mom, Sarah, searched for Oehrlein.

“Where is she?” Sarah asked, only to be told, “She’s getting mobbed over here,” as Oehrlein received congratulations from teammates and other community members, including young girls with No. 30 jerseys.

“She said she would take a picture with us,” one young player insisted, waiting patiently in line.

By ninth grade, spectators beyond Crosby had started asking for photos, Oehrlein said of the attention. Local youth players began coming to camps or to watch her at open gym, hoping to work out with her.

“Hopefully it’s something that we can build on,” Vukelic said. “With enough hard work and dedication, you can be the next Tori.”

Sarah said that Oehrlein had looked up to former Hopkins star Paige Bueckers in similar fashion when her family went to watch her play, connected by Oehrlein’s AAU coach Dre Jefferson.

Now, it’s Oehrlein giving out high fives and complimenting kids’ light-up shoes pregame. Mille Lacs players shouted their congrats to Oehrlein as they crossed paths in the hallways after the game.

“I’m just proud of her,” Sarah Oehrlein said. “She’s such an unselfish player. She’s such a humble person.”