Former Grayson County HS basketball star Madison Stewart joins 1,000 point scoring club at Campbellsville University

One of the most accomplished Grayson County Lady Cougar basketball players in school history has surpassed the 1,000 point scoring mark in her senior season at Campbellsville University.

Madison Stewart, a 2015 graduation of GCHS, joined Campbellsville’s 1,000 point club with a half-court buzzer-beating 3-point shot to end the first quarter in No. 3 Campbellsville’s February 2 victory over Lindsey Wilson.

Stewart, who is averaging 11.1 points per game this season, now has 1,028 points in her illustrious college career.

“I couldn’t have achieved such a milestone without all my teammates,” Stewart said. “They are the real reason I have been so successful. However, being able to accomplish this has been a huge personal achievement and it was nice to see some of the hard work pay off.”

Making achieving the milestone sweeter is Stewart overcoming a shoulder injury near the end of her freshman season and a broken foot suffered in practice at the beginning of her sophomore year.

“Thankfully, I have only been sidelined for about three months of my career,” Stewart said. “When I broke my foot my sophomore season, it was sort of discouraging after coming off a summer where I had worked so hard to get better. I ended up missing 11 total games, but I got the chance to compete with my team in a Final Four appearance, which made it all worth it, and will be a season I will never forget!”

Campbellsville, 26-2 on the season, is in the midst of a 14-game winning streak as the Lady Tigers have clinched the regular season Mid-South Conference Championship. Campbellsville, an annual NAIA power under head coach Ginger Colvin, looks to be one of the favorites in the NAIA’s 39^th annual Division I Women’s National Championship held March 13 through 19 at the 12,000 seat RimRock Auto Arena in Billings, Montana.

This year’s appearance in the NAIA national tournament will mark the fourth straight season Stewart and her teammates have participated in the event — In Stewart’s freshman season, the Lady Tigers advanced to the Elite Eight, with her sophomore season ending in the tournament’s Fab Four, one game away from playing for the national title. Last year, the Lady Tigers advanced to the Round of 16.

In Stewart’s nearly four seasons at Campbellsville, the Lady Tigers have posted an overall 110-23 record, good for an envy-inspiring .827 winning percentage.

This season, the 5-foot-9 Stewart has been money from long-distance, connecting on 42.6 percent (20-47) of her 3-point shots, and the free throw line where she’s made 83.1 percent (64-77). To go along with her 11.1 points per game, Stewart pulls down 5.2 rebounds per outing and accounts for 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals. In conference-only play, Stewart leads the Lady Tigers in scoring at 13.4 points per contest as Campbellsville is a perfect 12-0 against conference competition. Twice this season, the cold-blooded shooter has posted 29-point scoring games and Stewart has led the squad in rebounding 11 times.

Coming out of high school, where she was the Region 3 Player of the Year her senior season, Stewart had opportunities to play Division I ball, but instead chose to stay close to home so her family and friends could enjoy her college career, as they did her time on the high school hardwood.

“Coming to Campbellsville was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” Stewart stated. “CU has such a family atmosphere as it is. Had I gone to a D1 school, it would have been far-away. Seeing my family at every game is something I will never be able to thank them enough for. Not many players have a big family like mine that travels everywhere they do.”

Stewart, as far as anyone contacted for this story could ascertain, is only the second former Lady Cougar basketball player to achieve 1,000 points in college. Brittany Bird, a 2007 GCHS graduate, is Brescia University’s all-time leading scorer, as the three-time All-American posted 1,834 points in her college career.

Stewart, though, is not finished adding to her already impressive scoring total, as the Lady Tigers have two regular season games remaining, as well as the Mid-South Conference Tournament and NAIA National Championship Tournament, where Stewart will vie to add National Champion to her already outstanding college career.