To reach the 1,000-point mark in a high school basketball career is a noteworthy accomplishment, considering the most games you can play in a season in Maine is 23.
But to also score 72 goals in a soccer career is even more impressive.
That is what John Bapst High School of Bangor senior basketball point guard and soccer striker Claire Gaetani has accomplished.
With five regular season games remaining before the basketball Class B North Tournament, Gaetani has racked up 1,034 points. The Crusaders have played 68 games during her career, although she missed a few games her freshman year due to a sprained ankle.
Being a 1,000-point scorer is a big accomplishment, Gaetani said.
“I always wanted to do it. I’ve worked really hard, and it’s good to get it done,” she said, adding that it means more to her than the 72 soccer goals.
“Basketball is my main sport. Soccer is just for fun. I got lucky and was good at [soccer],” said Gaetani, who will play basketball when she attends Bates College in Lewiston in the fall.
The Crusaders have won just 18 basketball games over the past four seasons, including seven this year.
Gaetani was the primary scorer on struggling teams, including one that won only two games last year and one her freshman year, so points were hard to come by. Teams put their best defenders on her and designed defensive schemes to shut her down.
“It definitely hasn’t been easy,” Gaetani said. “I’ve been faceguarded a lot. I really have to work to score. I’m good at driving so I get fouled, and the foul shots have helped.”
Ellsworth High School basketball coach Andy Pooler called Gaetani a “fierce” competitor.
“She gets to the rim really well. She’s very shifty and is so good at getting rebounds and then getting out in transition. We held her in check for two and a half quarters and then she went bananas and took the game over,” said Pooler, referring to a 45-29 loss to the Crusaders Friday night in which Gaetani scored her 1000th point and finished with 21 points in the evening.
Gaetani is a hard worker with high standards, said John Bapst basketball coach Matt Smith.
“She is a great leader who sets a great example for her teammates,” Smith said.
The 5-foot-6 ¾ Gaetani, a tri-captain of the basketball team, is averaging 17.3 points per game this season, along with six rebounds, five steals and four assists.
“She is a great all-around player,” Smith said. “She’s very quick. She can shoot off the dribble, she can shoot off the pass and she is hard to stop around the basket because she is so athletic and has great body control.”
He also called her a top-notch defender.
Gaetani works year-round on her conditioning, seeing a physical fitness trainer at the Eastern Maine Sports Academy in Veazie up to two times a week.
She has taken steps to improve her game, including committing fewer fouls.
“That’s one thing I’ve always struggled with. And I’ve worked on becoming more of an all-around player instead of a one-dimensional player,” said Gaetani, an Old Town native.
“She is an incredible force on the basketball court and the soccer field. I’m in awe of her,” said John Bapst senior and basketball tri-captain Sophia Ward. “She has been a big part of our team. She is a great teammate. It’s so much fun to play with her in practice. She is such a good leader and someone to look up to.”
Bapst junior tri-captain Anna Smith emphasized Gaetani’s leadership qualities.
“She has captained both the soccer and basketball teams, and she is one of our biggest leaders,” Smith said. “She organizes stuff on our group chat.”
The daughter of John and Anne Gaetani began playing basketball, soccer and hockey at the Old Town YMCA when she was around 3 years old. She decided to attend John Bapst because her older brother, Mark, went to John Bapst.
The highlight of her basketball career to date occurred on Dec. 9, 2024, when she and her Crusaders beat defending B North champ Old Town 39-34.
“That was a really good feeling. We had never beaten them before,” Gaetani said.
Old Town avenged the loss with a 46-28 win on Monday.
Gaetani’s soccer teams at John Bapst have had a lot more success than her basketball teams, going 30-23-3 during the regular season and 5-4 in the Class B North playoffs.
“Claire is such a talented athlete and a great kid,” said Hermon soccer coach M.J. Ball. “She’s the type of player that can impact the game at any time. You must always know where she is and cannot give her time and space otherwise she will exploit you.”
Gaetani enjoyed the sport, especially this season under new head coach Greg Bennett when the team reached the B North semifinals for the first time in her career. Plus, it gets her in shape for basketball.
The basketball team is 7-6 and ranked fourth in the Class B North Heal Points standings.
The Crusaders play their home game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor but Gaetani and her teammates have never played a B North tournament game there because they haven’t reached the quarterfinals. They lost a preliminary round game her freshman year at Old Town.
“Fourth is the highest we have ever been in the Heal points so this is the best chance I’ll have to play at the Cross Center. That has always been a goal,” Gaetani said.
Gaetani and the Crusaders return to action at 11:30 a.m. Saturday when they travel to take on Houlton/Greater Houlton Christian Academy.