When Casey O’Shaughnessy transferred from Division II Saint Leo (Fla.) to Caldwell University (N.J.) as a junior, she had dropped in just 279 points across two campaigns, due to only playing six games as a sophomore because the NCAA ended the season as a result of COVID-19.
Therefore, the Marine Park, Brooklyn, native said she did not dwell on scoring 1,000 career college points, though it was a distinct possibility that resided in the back of her mind. Much to her delight, last month, O’Shaughnessy drained 15 points in a 73-35 home win against Wilmington University, that helped her surpass the magical milestone.
“I knew I could get it, but that was never the goal,” O’Shaughnessy explained. “If it was going to happen, it was going to happen. I just wanted to win and be happy at a good school and good basketball program.”
After her time at Saint Leo ended, O’Shaughnessy landed at Caldwell, where she said things have worked out well for her over the past two seasons.
“Everyone has been super great at Caldwell,” said the former Bishop Kearney star, who drained over 1900 points in high school. “If we win on Saturday, we’ll make it into the playoffs, which would be great.”
The 5-foot-8 senior guard scored 424 points (15.7 ppg) as a junior and has posted 392 points in 23 contests (17.0 ppg) so far this year, with two more regular season games remaining on the schedule.
A proven scorer, one aspect of O’Shaughnessy’s overall game that has seen vast improvement has been her defense.
“When you get to college, everyone can score, everyone can shoot,” O’Shaughnessy said. “But defense is something I’ve worked on to get better.”
O’Shaughnessy has the option of returning in 2023-24 due to the COVID-19-shortened season in 2020, giving her an extra year of eligibility. But she has not made any decision yet, as she wants to finish the basketball campaign first and take it from there.
“Right now, I’m just looking to finish the season,” the sports management major said. “I have decisions to make. Maybe I’ll come back as a grad student-player, but I’ll take some time to think about them.”
— Jerry Del Priore
Cover photo and first photo: Tom Salus.
Brooklyn Sports World/NY NJ Sports World 