Picard Surpasses 1,000-Point Milestone

Bianca Picard became the first Souderton female in a decade to reach the 1,000-point plateau last week.

By Mary Jane Souder

Bianca Picard has ensured herself a spot in history.

Souderton’s senior point guard became just the fifth female in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau and the first since Laura Houseal accomplished that feat on Dec. 10, 2003.

Picard reached the milestone when she connected on a runner in the paint early in the first quarter of Souderton’s second round District One AAAA game at Mount Saint Joseph Academy last Wednesday.  

“I missed a wide open layup, but I made my second shot,” said Picard. “I finally did it.

“I knew it was going to be tough to get a thousand points at Souderton, but it’s something I really worked for. It was something I really wanted to do.”

The contest was halted briefly while Picard, who was mobbed by jubilant teammates, accepted the game ball from coach Lynn Carroll and then, in turn presented it to her mother. It was after the game – a 52-36 loss to the top-seeded Magic - that the real celebration took place.

At the request of Mount athletic director Janet Columbro, everyone was asked to remain while Picard was recognized at midcourt.

“Every single person was on their feet,” Carroll said. “The Mount’s coaching staff and players – they were all clapping.

“I have never heard of that happening before, and part of it was because it was a district game, and we decided to make that (celebration) during the game brief. If I am in that situation in the future, that’s what I want to make happen for someone else’s player. It’s pretty neat. To be in that gym - it’s a pretty historic gym in terms of girls’ basketball in this area.”

What happened next during the postgame celebration is storybook.

“As they’re taking pictures, I looked up in the stands at our student section, and I’m like, ‘What the heck?’” Picard said. “They had four guys – each had a letter from prom on their t-shirt and (the fifth had) a question mark on his t-shirt, and he had flowers in his hands.

“He yelled to me, ‘Will you go to the prom with me?’ I was like ‘Wait, what’s going on? What is happening right now?’ I was saying yes, but can he hear me? I’m never going to forget that. I’m going to tell my kids about that 20 years from now – yeah, I scored a thousand points in high school, but I also got asked to the prom.  It was perfect, absolutely perfect.”

A perfect ending that couldn’t have happened if Picard  – as expected – had scored the nine points she needed to reach the milestone two nights earlier in Souderton’s opening round district game at Boyertown. She finished one shy with eight.

“I know how much she wanted it the first round game against Boyertown, but I think it ended up being a neater situation for her,” Carroll said. “What a neat night. She would have been talking about it for years to come, no matter what, but I don’t think this is a night most girls have when they score their thousand points.”

Picard echoed those sentiments.

“When my mom went to get tickets at the Mount the day of the game, the athletic director said, ‘We’re really excited that Bianca is going to get it here,’” she said. “Just hearing that going into the game was awesome.

“In the paper, the coach from Boyertown said they tried to hold me to eight because they knew I needed nine. I really value the Mount for caring about me as a person. That was a life-changing moment for me. I had people come up to me I didn’t know congratulating me – that meant a lot.”

Making Picard’s accomplishment even more significant, according to Carroll, was the fact that she didn’t play as many games as some who reach the milestone.

“I know it happens frequently in a lot of programs, but up until last year and this year, Bianca didn’t have many postseason opportunities,” the Indians’ coach said. “She has started almost every game in four years, and on the nights she was playing, she was playing 28-32 minutes, and it was because she deserved to be out there. She’s a kid that has worked so hard to become the player she has become.

“She has done so much for this program and to help turn it into the successful program we’ve been the last two years. I think our reputation has changed because of it. We struggled to win for a number of years, and she is a big reason why we have had success the last two years, and I’m really glad she also has had personal success.

“This was a huge goal for her. She wanted her name up there next to AJ’s. I couldn’t be happier for her, and I can’t say enough about how proud I am that she was able to get this done.”

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Bianca Picard came by her love of basketball a little differently than most. A sport that is now her passion got its roots as a coping mechanism after her father, Mark Picard, lost his battle with cancer when she was in first grade. Before that, shooting hoops in the family’s driveway was bonding time with her dad and brother A.J., four years her senior.

“It really started when I was about four,” she said. “My dad was getting AJ ready for basketball, and when he would go outside and shoot, I would look out the window and think, ‘I want to be out there. I want to play.’

“My brother was my idol, and my dad and I hung out all the time. When he passed away, I’ll never forget the first time I picked up the ball. I was out there by myself, and I started shooting and shooting and shooting. They started to go in – and I was not good. I was awful. Every day I would come home from school and shoot foul shots and shoot around. It was my coping mechanism for him passing away.”

It was not unusual for neighbors to see Picard dribbling a basketball around the neighborhood. Her dad became her inspiration.

“My dad always called me his little girl,” Picard said. “He always said, ‘You have to work for something, there’s no giving up. You have the opportunity, and you have to take it.’

“When I practice or in games, he’s on my mind all the time. Even at that age, I was fully aware of what was going on. I was forced to grow up quicker. My dad and mom – both of them believed in me. If I have a bad game, my mom still believes in me.”

Inspired by the memories of her father as well as an older brother AJ who excelled, Picard worked tirelessly to improve her skills, joining the AAU circuit at the age of 10. As a freshman, she was thrust into the starting lineup for the varsity at point guard.

“Here she is – a 14-year-old trying to figure it out,” Carroll said. “At that point in her career, she was still looking for other people to get it done. Over time, she’s grown into a player – she wants the ball in her hand, she wants to get it done. On the other side, all along the way, she’s looking for her teammates, getting them involved. She’s not a selfish player at all, by any means.”

With Picard guiding the team at point guard, Souderton has reached new heights, earning the program’s first district win in Carroll’s 10-year tenure last year and coming back to duplicate that feat this season.

The Indians are one of 12 teams still playing in the district and one of four teams vying for two state playoff berths. Picard, meanwhile, is signed, sealed and all but delivered to New Jersey Institute of Technology, the recipient of a full basketball scholarship.

“She’s a self-made player,” Carroll said. “One day she decided she wanted to do it and really meant it when she made that decision.

“It’s been neat to watch her grow. A lot of kids say they’re determined and say they want to get better and nod their head when you say ‘work on this, work on that,’ but there was never any doubt in our mind with Bianca that she really meant it and was going to do it.”

Handling the basketball, according to Carroll, is Picard’s forte.

“Teams that do things fullcourt against other teams – they decide it’s not worth it against us,” the Indians’ coach said. “I think she is one of the best ball handlers. Her ability to control the ball in traffic and with people running at her – I think it’s so impressive.

“That’s not something you just become good at because it’s a God-given talent. That’s the kind of thing you have to really, really commit to be good at. Her freshman year everyone was pushing her right. No one would let her go left. Her sophomore year, that wasn’t an issue any more because she realized it was a weakness. When the game’s on the line, she wants the ball in her hands. That’s been the neatest thing to see from her over the last four years.“

When Picard had her milestone moment last Wednesday, her father was very much in her mind and on her heart. The senior point guard received a Padre Pio pin from her mother the night she injured her foot in her team’s late-season game against Central Bucks West.

“When it happened, I thought my season was over,” Picard said. “I started wearing it, and every day I started to get a lot better. I’m not sure if it was mental or if it helped me, but I decided, ‘You know what – I’m wearing this every game from this day forward.’

“On my thousand point night, I had a picture of my dad on the other side of the pin facing my heart, so he would be there with me when I would get my thousand points. That was huge for me – to be protected and to have my guardian angel on my heart.

“When I scored the basket, I put my hand right on my heart, and even though it was a gym, I looked up at the ceiling. He was my first thought.”

Also in the stands that night was former Plymouth Whitemarsh standout Chuck Moore, whose father Chuck Moore has been Picard’s trainer. Both are like family to the Souderton senior.

“When my dad passed away, I thought, ‘Who’s going to teach us how to play?’” Picard said. “AJ and I used to play in the driveway, and my mom used to have to drag us inside for dinner.

“She found Chuck Moore to work with us. He’s been so motivating. He’s been like a dad for us. He’s that guy that gets our rebounds.”

The senior Moore has been Picard’s coach for the past eight years.

“Most of the credit goes to my dad,” said the younger Moore. “When she was at workouts, I was at workouts.

“We became close – I call them my second family. Nobody can replace the loss of a father, but we’ve kind of embraced that part she’s missing. I tell her all the time – I’m extremely proud of her. I was around when she was trying to perfect her craft, when she was in the gym trying to give her all to get better.

“In the early years, she had a lot of doubters because of her size and other weaknesses that she has worked on and are now her strengths. Just to see her from the beginning to where she is now – she’s going to play at the D-1 level, she’s the first 1,000-point scorer in the last 10 years. Those accomplishments alone show how strong, how mentally tough, how single-minded she is and how much basketball has developed her and not just on the floor.”

Souderton’s program has benefitted from Picard’s presence, but the senior captain has benefitted from the program as well.

 “Personally, from my end, this program has taught me that I have the ability to overcome absolutely anything,” Picard said. “You can’t get that anywhere else.

“It’s crazy because I think this whole program – put basketball aside – has changed me to the person that I am today.

“I was this little innocent freshmen who was pushed around and who had very little confidence. I was very sensitive as an individual, and I couldn’t take criticism. I was very young and immature.

“Every year something happened to me that made me grow as a person – whether it was learning how to be mentally strong and not allowing myself to be bullied or losing a coach. If I hadn’t experienced that in Souderton basketball, I wouldn’t have grown as a person.”

If given the opportunity, Picard, whose decision came down to Souderton or The Mount when she was in eighth grade, would do it all over again.

“I think about it often – I don’t think there’s anything in my life that could have taught me what this program has taught me,” she said. “I wouldn’t change it for anything.”