Upper Merion senior Cassidy Koenig surpassed the 1,000-point plateau on Tuesday night.
Cassidy Koenig hit nothing but net on a trey late in the first half of Tuesday’s SOL game against Upper Moreland. With that three-point basket, the Upper Merion senior sharpshooter had reached the magical 1,000-point plateau and secured her place in program history.
“I knew I was getting closer and closer, but I didn’t exactly know how many I needed,” Koenig said. “During the game, when they kept passing me the ball, I kind of figured I was getting close. They were running random plays to get me a three.”
The game was halted to recognize Koenig, who admits she doesn’t enjoy being in the spotlight.
“I don’t really like moments like that,” she said. “It was kind of awkward, but it was exciting.”
It was appropriate that the school’s record holder in career three-pointers – who has 40 this season - would bury a three for the milestone basket.
Koenig came into Tuesday’s game needing 22 points. She had that many before halftime, connecting on her historic basket with 3:30 remaining. It was her fifth three-pointer of the night.
“It was pretty much typical Cassidy Koenig fashion,” coach Tom Schurtz said. “She didn’t know the exact number she needed going in, but you could see halfway through the first quarter when we started running things for her – she figured that she was close, and she just locked it in.”
Schurtz knew he had inherited a special talent the moment Koenig set foot on the court as a freshman.
“Her first win at Upper Merion was my 100th victory,” said Schurtz, who notched win number 150 on Tuesday night. “That’s 50 wins in her four years in a program that isn’t historically a dominant program, but she has made us a contender at Class AAA every year.
“She’s just a steady influence out there since day one. The girls never feel we’re out of the game as long as she’s on the floor.”
Koenig scored a game-high 25 points in Tuesday’s win, adding her sixth trey in the second half. It’s the kind of performance Schurtz has come to expect from his senior captain.
“She’s a scrappy kid,” he said. “She’s never afraid of the big moment. She relishes it, she looks forward to it.
“There’s something in her that wants to hit that big shot, wants to put her team over the top.”
Koenig is a true scorer and recognizes that there will be nights when her outside shots aren’t falling.
“The other night, I was really off,” she said. “I was like 2-for-18. If I’m on, they come pretty easily. Tonight I was making a lot of them, so it was pretty good.”
Exactly when and how did Koenig become such a proficient shooter from beyond the arc?
“I don’t know,” she admits. “I remember when I was younger, I was always playing basketball outside with my cousins, and my dad would always be outside shooting with me.
“In AAU when I was younger, I was always the one that would shoot those long shots. I’ve been shooting them for a while.”
Interestingly, basketball is actually Koenig’s second sport. She is an all-state volleyball setter and gave up AAU basketball after her sophomore year to devote her time to volleyball. It has not slowed her down on the court where she is still the go-to player for the Vikings.
“That’s what is scary,” Schurtz said. “If she’s not the best shooter in the state, she’s on a very, very short list. She had 94 three’s last year. She gets in this rhythm where she just piles it on.”
Koenig admits that scoring a thousand points was a goal.
“When I was younger, Schurtz coached me in AAU, and he would say things like, ‘If you want to be on that banner, you have to work hard,’” she said.
Koenig worked hard and became just the sixth female in Upper Merion history to reach the 1,000-point milestone, the first since the all-time leading female scorer Kelly Crowe accomplished that feat in 2003.
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