For 43 years, Tracy Hill’s state record of scoring 2,934 points, 1980-83, on the high school basketball court stood. A Ridgway High School graduate, she was a 1A player, back when there were only three classifications.
Hill went on to play D-1 basketball for University of Missouri, before transferring. The rules then were that she had to play junior college for that year as a consequence, her sophomore year, but she then went on to play D-1 college basketball three years for Montana State University in Bozeman.
She later played professionally and coached in Australia. Most know her as a longtime coach in Nucla and that she took the Mustangs to the state championships, which they won in 1998.
According Hill’s parents, Steve and Diane, it was always exciting to watch Hill’s time on the court and celebrate her accomplishments. Her high school career included 21 records, and she was a Colorado Player of the Year as a student athlete.
In 1993, Hill was inducted into the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Hall of Fame. In 2018, she was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Needless to say, basketball runs in the Hill family blood. Hill’s siblings, Jana and Scott, played the game well. And, Steve Hill, a renown Colorado and national coach, led Carbondale to back-to-back state titles. Under his leadership the Ridgway Demons won 73 straight games, a record that also stood for some time. Records, though, Steve Hill told the Forum, are made to broken.
And, that’s what the family had to say about Brihanna Crittendon, the high school senior who recently surpassed Tracy’s Hill’s 43-year point total.
“Tracy has also said records are made to be broken, and that’s what happened,” Jana Gardner, Tracy Hill’s sister, said in an interview.
The family did follow some of the news coverage on Crittendon, and they thought it was exciting. Hill’s parents noted, though, that Crittendon, of Riverdale Ridge High School in Thornton, does have to finish her league play and then see what happens in the postseason. As of press time, Crittendon was close to 3,000 points, and was averaging 28 points per game.
It’s worth noting, too, that Crittendon is playing 6A basketball. What’s more is that she has differentiation in the game she plays. These days the girls play with a smaller basketball than the guys do, not like in Hill’s days. And, in the 1980s, there was no three-point line. All of Hill’s shots only counted for two points, and Hill very much made many three-pointers by today’s rules.
Hill’s sister said it’s fun to see records get surpassed.
“We see Olympic records get broken,” Gardner said. “It gives people something to aim for.”
The family agreed they’re all happy to see women get the attention they deserve. They said it’s always been important to them for the female athletes to be seen.
“And Tracy was a force to be reckoned with, but she still is,” Steve Hill said. “She was on a team, and she’s still on a team … She’s still working with kids in different capacities.”
The family said they agreed: Hill’s record was meant to be broken; it was just a matter of when.
