Flashback Friday is looking back at the top moments from the 2017-18 athletic year each Friday over the summer at the College of Staten Island. We introduce the Top Five this week with an extraordinary milestone, the first of it’s kind at CSI. In late January, Christina Pasaturo became the first CSI basketball player ever to record over 2,000 career points, doing it on a historical night against CCNY.
#5 – Christina Pasaturo records 2,000th career point in triple-double effort at CCNY
Date: January 22, 2018
Who: Christina Pasaturo, CSI Women’s Basketball
Where: Nat Holman Gymnasium – New York, NY
What Happened: In an 84-57 win over CCNY on the road in late January, senior Christina Pasaturo became only the third player in CUNYAC history to record over 2,000 career points, putting up 19 against the Beavers. In her 38 minutes, Pasaturo also recorded 11 rebounds and 10 assists, good for her second career triple-double. She would go on to finish her career as the CUNYAC’s second all-time leading scorer, male or female, and easily the highest scorer in CSI basketball history.
Q&A…with Christina Pasaturo
Christina, I know it was a bittersweet season for you, coming up a little short of a championship, but you must be very proud to have accomplished a feat that is so rare in college. How does it make you feel to be a 2,000-point scorer? Becoming a 2,000 point scorer is something that never crossed my mind really until the day it actually happened. In high school, I didn’t even reach the 1,000-point mark so 2,000 definitely felt surreal.
As far as the game itself, were you aware of how close you were to 2,000, and was it something you were conscious of during the game? I was aware going into the game how far away I was, but not by choice. There was kind of constant chatter when I was about 100 away so there was always at least one person randomly mentioning it to me.
You’ve always been a great scorer but people forget that you’ve always led the team in assists and always have among the most rebounds, too. How important have those often-overlooked categories been for you? Those categories were equally as important as scoring for me. Of course, on a team everyone naturally has roles but it’s crucial to try and excel in everything for the betterment of the team. You can be labeled as more of a defensive or offensive threat but on the court you have to put your effort into everything not just one facet of the game.
Amazing that in your career, that the game against CCNY was only your second triple-double in college. How cool is it to do something like that? A triple-double always feels great just because you know you really were doing all you can all over the court but without the win it would have been irrelevant.
The game against CCNY was another in a line of big wins this season. How important is it to stay focused mentally in games like that when you appear to be comfortably in control? Staying focused in games that are going your way and you have a big lead is so crucial. I’ve been in a lot of games when we were clearly the better team but sometimes you tend to play down to another team’s level and start to play their kind of game. Over the past season I’ve learned if you don’t stay focused you’ll find a 20-point lead turn into a two-point deficit all because you slacked off.
CSI has had so much success in basketball, men’s and women’s, so to hold the title of being the only 2,000-point scorer is something that perhaps will never be done again. How much does that resonate with you? As you mentioned before, this season was bittersweet because my ultimate goal was never personal accolades, it was always a championship. Since we fell short of that goal I don’t think the 2,000 points has really resonated at all. I am grateful that I had an amazing coach and four years of awesome teammates who all played a huge role in the accomplishment but as of now there’s still too much disappointment with how the season ended.
At the end of the year you were named the CSI Female Student-Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row, also very rare at CSI. What can you say about all the praise that you’ve able to achieve at CSI? CSI has been so incredibly good to me the past four years so any and all praise I have received they have played a huge role in. I am grateful that over the years through some of my awards I have been able to put CSI’s name out there because it absolutely deserves recognition.
Christina, some people will look at your numbers and maybe wonder why you elected to play NCAA Division III basketball. What do you tell the folks who insist that maybe you should have gone to a bigger school in perhaps another NCAA Division? In high school I did not have the guidance or support from coaches and administration to help me achieve high levels of success and that’s why I constantly speak of how instrumental Coach Shanahan and CSI was in my development and accolades. For this reason I didn’t have the confidence or opportunity to try and play many other places. I knew I could always transfer if I started playing well or was truly unhappy but once my season began I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. There is always the question of what if, but at the end of the day I was able to succeed playing the sport I love surrounded by amazing people; believe it or not there are many collegiate athletes at all levels who sadly aren’t able to say the same thing.
On top of all of the basketball, you were named a CUNYAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Honorable Mention, meaning that you accomplished all of this as an excellent student as well. What does it take to have the ability to do well in both the way you have? I think it’s more so about effort then ability. Every athlete has the ability to succeed at both, but in order to do that, aside from family, school and your sport need to be top priority. I was really fortunate with amazing parents guiding me both athletically and academically and constantly supporting me so it made it really hard for me to slack off. It’s college so it’s easy to be distracted by parties or friends or simply being lazy. I always looked at it though as – you only get four years to play and shape your future so do everything humanly possible to be the best student-athlete you can be otherwise why are you playing in the first place?
You have recently graduated and will be attending law school in the fall. What role do you think basketball at CSi played in helping you on the path that you are on the road to? Basketball has played a huge role in my path. Being a CSI athlete made me an extremely disciplined student and a more well-rounded human being. Being a student-athlete taught me how to be one-hundred and ten percent committed on being organized, having time management skills, and learning how to prioritize. CSI was very instrumental in shaping the person I am today and I will be forever grateful for that.
Other Highlights
CSI Story
CUNYAC Story
Boxscore
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