By Joe Leo
On February 5, Brooklyn College’s All-Conference Senior Forward Alexandra Moogan made history. Moogan started the game eight points short of scoring 1,000 on the court.
First, she nailed a three-pointer, then she made a layup on a fast break. Within the first two minutes of the game, she hit the milestone on a second three-pointer.
According to Moogan, the feeling of hitting 1,000 career points only hit after a time-out by Bearcat coach Michael Kotrozos. That morning, she admitted the pressure made her nervous. Thankfully, the nerves broke and she just played her game that night.
“I woke up and I like, today could be the day- but what if it doesn’t happen?” she said.
Moogan grew up in New Jersey, where she and her father would play games of H-O-R-S-E on a hoop attached to their garage. For Moogan, her father is the outside force driving her appreciation for the game.
Now, she is the sixth woman in Brooklyn College history to score 1,000 points. After the age of eight, Moogan moved on to playing in recreational leagues. She kept playing organized basketball in junior high and high school before getting recruited in her junior season.
“That’s when my passion really came back to me. The last three seasons, I’ve dedicated playing for him,” she said. Moogan was a freshman at Brooklyn College when her father passed away, and she credits him for being the one who taught her a love for basketball.
“I thought I was going to be the best player in this entire school and I just wasn’t. That was a big wake-up call and I’m more proud of my 1,000th point now because of it,” she said in regards to her initial expectations.
Moogan said the struggle in her first year was likely a direct result of the pressure she put on herself coming into college.When Brooklyn Bulldogs coach Alex Lang saw her, Moogan did not anticipate pursuing basketball in college. Following an AAU tournament in Philadelphia, Moogan happened to run into Lang at an ice cream shop where she worked at and the rest is history.