Shannon McCoy Notches 1,000 Career Points

By Dorian Alerte|Published by March 27, 2021

Just three seasons into her collegiate basketball career, Kean guard Shannon McCoy has reached the 1,000 career point milestone.

Heading into the Feb. 27 game against Rutgers- Newark, McCoy had only 14 points left to reach the 1,000 point milestone. Then, early in the second quarter on a three-point shot attempt, she reached it.

“It was definitely a great experience because I did score 1,000 points in high school, but I wasn’t expecting that in college,” McCoy said.

Although Kean fans were not allowed to attend the game, McCoy was able to celebrate her accomplishment with her teammates and coaches.

“We all cheered and screamed for the win,” McCoy said. “Then we got kind of emotional, only because when you get close to 1,000 everyone expects their family and friends to be there, but in a time like this, that wasn’t the case. I took the moment to say thanks to everyone and they made it special.”

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the team was not able to celebrate the milestone in a typical fashion, but they were still able to celebrate with balloons and posters. A timeout was called, and the team met her at mid-court to congratulate McCoy.

“We knew going into it that she wouldn’t be able to celebrate it normally, like other past 1,000 point scorers,” fellow junior guard Sarah Olivero said. “So we really wanted to emphasize that we know you can’t be here with your family, but we’re your family too, and we love you and we support you.”

The achievement is not only something that McCoy is proud of, but her teammates as well.

“It honestly makes me so happy and so proud of her because watching her mature and grow into herself since freshman year, being able to call her my best friend and being so close with her, it just makes me so proud,” Olivero said. “Outside of the basketball team, she’s an amazing person and she deserves all of the accomplishments she’s gotten over the years.”

For McCoy, her 1,000th career point is more of a team accomplishment, rather than an individual one.

“Coach [Mandy] King says it all the time ‘when one flies, we all fly’,” McCoy said. “So I might have personally scored my 1,000th point, but everyone on the team had a part of that. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have gotten that pass, we wouldn’t have gotten that play, and the way they push me in practice contributed to that moment.”

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