Cassandra Squeri Nets 1,000th Career Point With Lady Pioneers

Cassandra Squeri scored her 1,000th career point with the New Providence Girls’ Varsity Basketball team on Tuesday afternoon, leading the Lady Pioneers to a 37-33 conference win over rival Oak Knoll in Summit.

Squeri, a senior, went into this conference game with 992 career points and reached the 1,000th point milestone with just minutes left in the third quarter.  The crowd erupted in cheers and applause for Squeri, who was presented with flowers and posters from her teammates just before posing for a picture with her family and Head Coach Cap Pazdera.

“To be honest, it’s never really been one of my goals just because I’ve been on so many great teams, I’ve played with so many great players and I didn’t really know I was close until this year,” Squeri told Patch after the game. “I was mostly focused on getting the team wins and I’ve been grateful for playing with such great people who have been able to get me those passes. But it’s never been about me; it’s been about the team.”

Squeri, who will play Softball at Stonehill College in Massachusetts this fall, has been a key player for the Lady Pioneers since her freshman year at New Providence High School.

Coach Pazdera said Squeri’s 1,000th career point milestone gave the team the spark it needed to pull out the win.

“It’s awesome. She’s been on the team since her freshman year so I feel like she’s family,” Pazdera told Patch after the game. “The things that we’ve accomplished together as a team — the state championships and conference championships — have been great. And for her to get this as an individual accolade is just a feather in her cap to top off an amazing career here at New Providence.”

After this victory over Oak Knoll, Squeri said she is looking forward to a strong run in the conference, Union County Tournament and State Tournament.

“We’re going to make a good run in the conference. This was a really big conference game and it was a good win for us,” Squeri said. “The Union County Tournament, a lot of teams are fighting for it and we’re one of those teams so we’re going give it our all at the end of the season for that and states, we’re just going to keep playing hard.”

Editor's Note: This story was first published in January of this year.