Sayuri Penaranda is a senior at Freehold High School who has just reached the milestone of scoring 1000 points in her basketball season. She’s been playing basketball since she was in kindergarten, and plans to continue her basketball career in college at Salisbury University in Maryland. During our interview, she gave insight into the other players that have scored 1000 points. One of the last women to reach this milestone was 16 years ago, and she made an appearance at the game that night.
What is your most memorable game moment leading up to this season?
“I would say my most memorable moment of the season was our game vs Manalapan at home, when we were down by 2, and then Lena scored a 2-pointer to put us into overtime, and we won the game.”
What was going through your mind when you first scored your 1000th point?
“Well, it was senior night, so there was already some hype going for me, and then I knew I was only 13 points away from scoring one thousand. I was nervous, and I was making a lot of errors. The first quarter, I scored like four points, and the second quarter, I was just saying to myself, ‘I have to, I have to’ to give myself the push to get there. I shot it and it was a buzzer-beater”
As a senior athlete, how did you stay motivated throughout the season, especially after reaching such a big milestone?
“I stayed motivated through the fact that I wasn’t only playing for me, I think I played for all of us as a team, because I wanted all of us to win.”
What is the biggest obstacle you’ve faced on your journey, and how did you overcome it?
“I would say my biggest obstacle that i faced in my journey was getting injured my sophomore year season of volleyball, and, um, I feel like it just affected me in a lot of ways, obviously I couldn’t train or get better in the time being, but eventually I did and I overcame that injury.
