Dunellen High School basketball player Jacqueline “Jackie” Von Itter reached her 1,000th career point in front of a home crowd at Wednesday’s game against Timothy Christian School. The Destroyers won, 40-18.
John Paul Osborn
Jackie Von Itter with her parents Ana and Michael Von Itter. Jackie is only the second Lady Destroyer to reach 1000 points in her Dunellen High School basketball career.
Von Itter was only three points shy of the milestone at the start of the game. And with only minutes left in the second quarter, she hit a long jump shot from the right wing. The shot put her in an exclusive club; only handful of Destroyer basketball players have reached the 1000-point level including Lauren Stats (2006), Dylan Hoski (2013) and David Johnson (2015).
The daughter of Ana and Michael Von Itter, Von Itter started played basketball with the Recreation Department’s program and in middle school. She also participated in the Amateur Athletic Union’s basketball program from 7th grade to 10th grade.
Von Itter is currently weighing her options on where she will be attending college this fall, but does know that she will be majoring in athletic training. Von Itter is not planning on continuing playing basketball in college. Instead, she will be playing the other team sport which has garnered her state-wide attention, soccer. This past season, she was named to the Home News Tribune’s All-Area Girls Soccer Second Team.
Von Itter, who has been averaging 12.9 points per game this season, shared the honor with her team. “Reaching 1000 points is awesome and always been a goal of mine, but really I owe this accomplishment to my teammates who have not only pushed me to be a better player all these years but also played their hearts out with me each and every game. I have a great group of girls out there with me and I’ve had the privilege of growing up playing with them; We’ve all been together since travel ball. I can’t thank them enough for making my night so special. But this isn’t the last of them, there’s so many more special nights coming for us.”
The DHS girls basketball team is currently in first place in the Greater Middlesex Conference Gold Division, and in tenth place overall.