Friday night the tension was high at Syosset High School's home game against East Meadow. Megan Assmus, #11 and a point guard for Syosset, took it in stride and did well in another game. Gracefully dribbling down the court and shooting, she scored five points in the first quarter. With 4:05 left in the second quarter, Assmus hit a 3-pointer, immediately stole an in-bound pass and sunk a layup to become the first young women ever to score 1,000 career points in Syosset High School Girl's Basketball history.

Head Coach Diane M. Alleva and Assistant Coach Doug Schumacher stopped the game and awarded Assmus with a plaque and a signed basketball from her teammates. Assmus went on to score a total of 25 points with 10 assists and three rebounds bringing her total points to 1,013. The Syosset Braves beat the East Meadow Jets 76 to 31.

"In eighth grade, Megan played junior varsity. Then for the next four years she started for the varsity team. Quietly, she became number one in scoring, averaging 19 points a game, and is the first Lady Braves to become a member of the 1,000-point club. She also leads the team in assists," said Alleva.

"I love the sport and learned it all from my Dad," said Assmus who is tri-captain of the Syosset Braves Varsity team with teammates Adda Baranowski and Carolyn Sumcizk.

According to the Section 8 Basketball Committee who has been keeping track of records since 1979, Assmus joins 68 girls from Nassau County and 82 from Suffolk who have earned the distinction of 1,000 points in their career.

Syosset High School's previous record holder, Erin Connolly, had scored a career total of 970 points four years ago, and also sunk 115 three-pointers. Connolly is now a co-captain of the women's basketball team at Tufts University. At Syosset's game against Hicksville two weeks ago, Assmus broke Connelly's record.

According to school records, Assmus is an excellent student as well. She is a member of the National Honor Society with a 92 average and was on the honor roll last marking period. She is an all-around athlete playing CYO travel team and AAU travel team for basketball; Syosset Screamers travel team and Long Island Jr. Soccer Select team for soccer. In Syosset High School she has achieved 10 Varsity letters and played Varsity Girls Basketball and Varsity Girls Soccer all four years and Varsity Softball for three. Assmus is the recipient of many sports titles including: All Conference for 2003, All County and All State for 2004 for girls basketball. She also was All County soccer player for 2003, 2004 and All Class A 2002.

Assmus comes from a family history of basketball players. Her grandparents, George and Catherine Assmus of Merrick, played basketball. Her father Jim Assmus played for Calhoun High School and her three uncles played for Mepham. Since she was 5 years old, Assmus remembers playing basketball and soccer on her front yard with her father Jim and her brothers Matt and Greg.

Although the Syosset Lady Braves basketball team's record is 2-6 in Conference 1, they have endured many injuries on the team this year. The team is also comprised of younger players with three seniors, five juniors, one sophomore, one freshman and two eighth graders. Assmus is looking forward to playing college basketball next year, but hasn't decided where just yet.