Bolivar High School Girls’ Varsity Basketball enjoyed a successful season, complete with the career milestones achieved by two of its members. Senior Carly Cribbs became the second highest scoring player in the school’s history, and Coach Darin Archer reached his 500th win as a head coach.

Cribbs, who moved into second place on Jan. 22 against Ozark, said she knew that she was getting close to the person in front of her, but did not realize how close she was until after the game when her dad broke the news.

“It’s pretty cool just because I know some of the girls that are up there, so just to be up there at second is something cool,” Cribbs said.

As of Feb. 26, Cribbs has scored 1,742 total points as a Bolivar Lady Liberator. Not including her senior season, Cribbs has tallied 3.6 assists per game, 237 rebounds, 163 blocks, and 153 steals through 82 career games.

Of course, Cribbs could not have achieved such numbers all on her own. She credits her teammates and Coach Archer, who hit his 500th career win earlier in the season on Dec. 30 against Clever.

“He’s pushed me harder than probably anybody and screamed at me a lot, but I couldn’t be here without him,” Cribbs said of Archer.

Archer has been coaching for 34 years, during which he has coached both boys and girls basketball at six different schools. Notably, Archer enjoyed a stint as the head coach of Southwest Baptist University’s men’s basketball program and was the assistant coach of Bolivar’s girls’ basketball team that won a state championship in 2008.

When asked about his 500th win milestone, Archer said, “Getting 500 wins just means I’m old, but it also means that I’ve had a lot of players that have put Bolivar basketball on the map on both the boys’ and girls’ side.”

Archer attributes all his coaching success to the players he has been able to coach over the years. He calls the Bolivar area a “gold mine” for producing basketball talent, which has produced nuggets of gold like Cribbs.

“She’s one of the best to ever put on blue and gold, boys or girls,” Archer said of Cribbs. “I think her numbers speak for themselves. She’s been a pleasure to coach.”

Archer has had the pleasure of coaching both Cribbs and Bolivar’s leading all-time scorer, Casey Garrison. When asked about the similarities between Cribbs and Garrison, Archer commented that they were both “students of the game” and leaders on the court.

“One thing I don’t think people understand about either one of them is they make and made the players around them even better,” Archer said.

At the conclusion of Bolivar’s season, Cribbs plans to hang up her basketball shoes for good. Instead, she plans to head to Ozarks Technical Community College and pursue a career in physical education.

Archer retired at the end of this season, ending an incredible coaching career.