Ex-Buck Great Morgan Preps for NCAAs; Hoop Career Nears End
LATROBE – Clinton County’s all-time top basketball scorer is nearing the end of her illustrious playing career and wouldn’t change a minute of the ride.
Maria Morgan came from the playgrounds of Renovo to become the county’s highest scoring basketball player, male or female, back in 2015. And now she is completing her senior season at Saint Vincent College and going out in style, the team captain leading her Bearcats into the NCAA Division III playoffs.
The Bearcats have been solid all four years Morgan has been an important cog, never missing a game over that span. And this year is shaping up as one of the best in the Latrobe school’s history. The team earned its first Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championship and a trip to the NCAA National Tournament with its 70-48 victory over Washington & Jefferson last Saturday.
NCAA pairings were announced on Monday and the Bearcats (23-4) got a tough draw: Friday, March 1 at Crestview Hills, Kentucky against No. 1 ranked Thomas More (27-0). The Saints, a former member of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, own an 82-46 regular season win over the Bearcats.
Morgan played her usual solid game in the PAC title contest, scoring 15 points to go along with her usual strong floor game. Her performance earned Morgan player-of-the-game recognition from the PAC broadcasters.
But now it’s time for the South Renovo native to look beyond her college years. As for future plans, she said, “I am still exploring my options and figuring everything out, but I do not have anything set in stone yet. I graduate at the beginning of May and then we’ll see what happens after that!”
Morgan said the experience at the Latrobe school has been beyond her expectations, telling The Record, “The experience I have had at Saint Vincent has been priceless. It is more than I could have ever asked for. The experience has challenged me in many different ways and that is what it is all about. It is not supposed to be picture perfect and I am thankful I never gave up on it.”
The Bearcats have had a great season to this point. Morgan was asked to comment on her role and the team’s success: “We prepared very well this season. After we lost in the semi-finals last year to W&J it motivated us to take that extra step. Our post-season and preseason conditioning workouts helped us do that and more importantly brought us together as a team. This year we were all on the same page and didn’t talk about wanting to win the PAC championship at our first team meeting. Instead, we focused on all of the little things that would lead us to that end result and today, we are PAC champions because of that mindset.”
The season, she said, has been a joy: “It is rewarding being a veteran on this team. My teammates and coaches have made my last year of playing one that I will never forget and that is all I could ever ask for from them. This year the team has made my job as a captain easy. I owe all of the credit to them because they have worked hard and have inspired me to work even harder.”
The task for the Bearcats will be a challenge, but folks back in western Clinton County who know Maria Morgan know she’ll be ready, she’ll give her all for her team, just as she has done for four outstanding years with the Bucktail Lady Bucks and four outstanding years with the Saint Vincent College Bearcats. Hometown fans could not ask for any more than that.
