Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. Howland senior Alyssa Massucci handles the ball during a game against Boardman last week. She scored her 1,000th career point earlier this season and has become one of the more dynamic players in Trumbull County.

While she was growing up, watching her two older brothers play on the hardwood floor always gave Howland senior Alyssa Massucci a path she wanted to undertake when her time for varsity basketball came around.

Earlier this season, she scored her 1,000th career point, but setting the bar higher for others was also the main goal for the Howland senior.

For Massucci, It all starts by showing up to the school around 5:30 a.m. before school to put some shots up in the gym.

“I really enjoy going early in the morning and shooting, just getting the extra shots up really helps me out,” Massucci said. “It’s definitely challenging, but I feel like going every day and staying consistent really helps me out.

“Last year, we didn’t have any seniors, so I feel like that experience has really helped us out this year.”

Howland coach Aaron Pounds sees the example that Massucci sets for the rest of the Tigers players and hopes others can follow her lead.

“She works really hard, I open the gym up every morning at 5:30 a.m., and she’s always there. She’s never missed. She’ll ask me and remind me sometimes, ‘Hey can we shoot in the morning?” Pounds said. “There’s a couple of other girls that’ll come in and shoot with her, but sometimes it’s hit or miss. Jessie DeSalvo comes in with her a little bit, but she’s there every day, so she works really hard at it.

“I hope some of the younger girls look at her. I have a niece who’s in fifth grade who idolizes her and all the rest of these seniors. She’s a great role model, the epitome of a student athlete.”

It all started years ago, following her two older brothers Michael and Anthony during their high school careers. Massucci credits them for much of her success.

“They were definitely a big part of my basketball career, especially my dad, my mom, and just my whole family overall,” Massucci said. “It gave me a lot of motivation, just watching them play. I definitely miss watching them play, and I just learned so much from watching them — to never give up and that hard work really does pay off.”

A reward of that hard work came in late December when Massucci became the ninth player in Howland girls basketball history to score 1,000 career points during a 31-point outing against Hathaway Brown. Reaching that milestone was also an achievement Massucci chased, especially with the first few months of her freshman season lost due to the COVID-19 shut down in Trumbull County.

“I honestly couldn’t have done it without my teammates, coaches and my family to support me along the way,” Massucci said. “It was definitely frustrating my freshman year with COVID and everything, but it just honestly made me want to work harder — just overall getting better and (doing) anything I can do to help the team win.”

Pounds added that Massucci is “an all-around player” and “a ‘Kobe Bryant’-style of player.” By that, he means that she’s not just a post-up player or three-point specialist — Massucci can do it all on the court.

Being a multi-sport athlete, there’s always something to do or a skill to work on, but overall athleticism spills over from sport to sport. So it’s fitting that Massucci committed to Slippery Rock for softball, while also having played varsity volleyball for three years at Howland.

“It definitely can be hard, but I feel like I’m an organized person, (and) I feel like that really helps me out,” Massucci said. “I feel like all of the sports that I’ve played really help with each other, just being consistent with all of the sports and working in the off-season really helps with all of the sports overall.”