On the basketball court they have been inseparable for six years, ever since they became teammates on the Leverette Junior High girls team.

So it was fitting that Woodward High seniors Ebony Jones and Misti Horton each recently scored her 1,000th career point, just two games apart.

The Polar Bear duo actually had an opportunity to pull off a rare milestone, to hit the 1,000 mark in the same game.

But Horton, slowed for much of the season by a sprained right ankle, had to settle for watching her good friend Jones hit the mark first during a 31-point effort in Woodward's home loss to Anthony Wayne on Dec. 18. A 3-pointer midway through gave her 1,000, and she finished the big night at 1,013.

For Jones, a 5-4 guard who also excels in the classroom with a 4.2 grade-point average, it was the third time this season she had at least 30 points in a game. She now has 1,045 points and is averaging 21.5 points and seven rebounds per game this season for the 5-7 Bears, who are 1-3 in City League play.

For Horton, who had needed 27 points in the Anthony Wayne game to hit 1,000, it would take two more games to get there because of her still-swollen ankle.

“When Misti got hurt they told me to take over, take more shots,” Jones said of her scoring average, up from 16.9 last season. She opened this season trailing Horton 915-787 in career points. “It was nice when they stopped the game [on 1,000th point], but we still lost and that just didn't feel right.

“There's no competition between us. There's no jealousy. We play two different positions. I'm a guard. When Misti's doing good, I keep getting her the ball.”

After a City League loss to Bowsher Dec. 19, Horton hit 1,001 on a drive to the basket in a home victory against Columbus Whetstone on Dec. 22. That gave her five points early in the game, and she exited shortly thereafter to rest the ankle.

The 5-7 forward has missed five full games and parts of others because of the injury, which occurred in a preseason scrimmage. It was aggravated in the final minute of Woodward's season-opening win against Southview. The Bears are 1-4 in games without Horton this season, 4-3 with her.

A similar rarity occurred in 1995-96 when Eastwood High seniors Stephany Dunmyer and Kerri Wohltman each hit the 1,000 mark at nearly the same time. Dunmyer ended with 1,124, Wohltman 1,121.

“It made me feel like I accomplished something,” said Horton, who wasn't bothered by getting to 1,000 after Jones. “We're friends, we've been playing together since seventh grade and we work well together. As long as we win, that's all I care about.

“The injury is very disappointing, so I try not to think about it. But it's my senior year and I'm not able to do the things I normally do on the court. I can't drive as well or rebound as good.”

Jones and Horton, who led Leverette to the junior high city public school championship as eighth-graders in 1997-98, are Woodward's first girls to reach 1,000 points.

Not even the accomplished Frani Washington - who led an 18-2 Woodward team to a Class AAA state championship in 1976 - reached the 1,000-point mark, mainly because of the limited number of games girls teams played during that era.

That season was first time the Ohio High School Athletic Association conducted a girls basketball state tournament and coach Susan Sweet's Polar Bears beat Columbus Bishop Watterson 63-59 in the title game at St. John Arena in Columbus.

Despite playing just two full seasons at Ohio State, plus three games her junior year with the Buckeyes, Washington did score 1,173 points in just 63 career games (18.6 average) at OSU. The 5-6 guard's 23.7 scoring average as a sophomore in 1978-79 earned her first-team Kodak All-American honors.

As for Washington's Woodward 1975-76 dream season, all that remains, apparently, is a fond memory. The school gym has no banner that commemorates the achievement, a sad fact that puzzles second-year Polar Bear girls coach James Jones.

Jones, 25, no relation to Ebony Jones, is fully aware of the challenges he and his players encounter at Woodward. The North Toledo school district struggles to maintain adequate participation numbers in essentially every sport it offers. Fielding competitive teams is a hard-won bonus, and posting winning records is difficult and rarely achieved.

The Woodward girls haven't had a winning season since Bob Pawlak guided the Bears to marks of 14-6 in 1986-87 and 11-10 in '87-88.

Although the school has produced several impressive individual athletes in recent years - like former major league baseball player Tom Marsh, two-time state wrestling champion Tomazz Wilson and current Chicago Bear standout defensive end Bryan Robinson - the competitive obstacles wear on coaches and players alike at the school and further hinder the chances of team success.

That's what makes the achievement of four-year varsity starters Jones and Horton even more unlikely and subsequently more impressive.

Perhaps no one knows that better than Kim McCualsky, the man who coached Jones and Horton their first two varsity seasons (8-11 and 10-10 records), and who had previously spent 13 seasons coaching the Woodward boys varsity. McCualsky knows the obstacles, but he also knew Jones and Horton could clear them when they arrived at Woodward.

“They were two of the hardest-working athletes I've ever coached,” McCualsky said. “They were both in the gym all the time. It was hard to get them to go home sometimes.

“They came to Woodward with some pretty good skills, and they worked on them to get better. I'm happy for them. They were a pleasure to coach.”

Ebony Jones earned first-team All-CL honors as a sophomore and made the all-league second team last year. Horton, currently averaging 12.3 points and 7.8 rebounds a game despite the injury, was a second-team pick as a sophomore and made first team last season. She scored 21 points per game as a junior.

When asked how difficult it was for his two players to hit their milestone together, especially with the athletic circumstances at Woodward, coach Jones replied: “It's like running a sprint in quicksand.”

Without the 1976 championship banner, Jones feels the accomplishments of his senior duo provides hope for the future.

“This is big because when you're in a feeder district, this is something the kids in elementary school and junior high in our district can look up to and make them want to stay and play here,” coach Jones said. “We lose a lot of kids.”

Woodward has nine regular varsity girls players, two of whom are the program's only sophomores and split time on the junior varsity. Fifteen freshmen players split their time between the freshman and JV squads, giving Woodward 24 total players.

By contrast, Central Catholic, winner of five straight CL titles, usually trims from roughly 60 candidates down to a 15-member varsity, plus freshman and JV teams of 12 or 13 players each.

“They've had to make their own success,” Central girls coach Steve Pfahler said of Jones and Horton. “They play hard and certainly have some skills.”

Coach Jones agrees.

“They're successful because they work hard. They understand things aren't going to come to them easily, but they keep a positive attitude. When you combine those two things - hard work and the right attitude - you're going to do good things.”

First Published January 4, 2002, 11:43 a.m.