BREMEN — It’s been a historic 2025-26 for Bremen Athletics. In the fall, the Lions’ girls soccer team not only won the IHSAA Class 1A first sectional in program history, but they won the first regional and semi-state titles in boys or girls program history en route to a state championship appearance.
A few months later, two Lions basketball players reached the 1,000 career points milestone just a week apart from one another.
First, Chase Devine became the fifth Bremen boys player to accomplish the feat when he did so against John Glenn December 13. He’s the first to do so in his junior season, putting him on pace to finish with the most points in program history.
Many of Devine’s classmates knew he was on the cusp of 1,000 points heading into the rivalry game against the Falcons, and some made signs to help cheer him on.
“You don’t want everyone crumbling up the signs and walking out,” Devine said. “You wanted to do it in a big game like that.”
Reaching the milestone gave Devine bragging rights over his family, as his father Chris and his brothers Bryce, Trevor and Grant all played basketball at Bremen without scoring 1,000 career points.
“They were happy for me, but they were still competitive saying they could still beat me,” Devine said with a smile. “I don’t know about that.”
And Chase will likely become the Lions boys’ all-time leading scorer this season, as the program’s current No. 1 sits with 1,262 while Devine is already at 1,038 with at least 16 regular season games left to play.
He’s also doing all of this for a 6-0 Bremen squad out to its best start in over 30 years.
Senior Eliana Grubbs reached the mark against Tippecanoe Valley December 20 to become the eighth such player in the girls program’s history. While her milestone came in the Lions’ first loss of the season, she still kept perspective on how momentous the accomplishment was.
Grubbs said she first set out to reach 1,000 career points when she was in middle school, and the drive she has had since helped her realize it was possible. It took her a bit longer to reach thanks to playing alongside the program’s all-time leading scorer Kila Foster (2025 graduate) for her first three seasons, but Grubbs said it was having Foster and current senior teammate Emma Kincaid to feed off of that made the milestone possible.
“I wasn’t always the greatest, so I put in the work and definitely knew I was capable of doing it,” Grubbs said. “We get each other open to get those points and achieve the goal of winning … It’s our friendship, honestly.”
And Kincaid isn’t far behind with 875 points through 13 games. She’ll have to average 12.5 points per game in the Lions’ 10 remaining regular season games (if they make the Bi-County Tournament championship) to reach 1,000 prior to the start of the IHSAA state tournament.
Grubbs and Kincaid are close friends off the court, and the former is now shifting her focus toward making sure the latter meets her in the history books. More specifically, Grubbs and Kincaid are circling senior night, a January 29 game vs. Elkhart Christian, as the best time for Kincaid to become the third Bremen basketball player this season to score 1,000 career points.
Whether Kincaid does it in the regular season or not, with the Bremen girls sitting at 12-1 and having won a sectional title the last two years, it seems like another state tournament run could be in the cards for the Lions. Regardless, Kincaid is going to keep doing what is successful for her so far, putting in extra work outside of games and practices every day by getting shots up in her garage at home.
“I’ve always had a love for basketball,” Kincaid said. “There are just so many different aspects to it, and it just makes me happy to play. I’m just excited to play every game, and it’s something I’ve grown up with.”
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleSmedley03.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Bremen’s Chase Devine and Eliana Grubbs reach 1,000 points 7 days apart
Reporting by Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
