There are six seniors on the winning Morgan Girls Basketball team. These seniors – Ava Johnson, AJ Luke, Maeve Madura, Victoria O’Neill, Madelyn Sacta, and Glenda Zhiminaicela began playing together on their third grade travel team. This close-knit group of girls has great chemistry on and off the court as they lead their basketball team to the top of the Shoreline Conference. Four of the six seniors are also captains. The team ended their regular season at second place in the Shoreline and eighth place in class M with a conference record of 13-3 and an overall record of 17-6.
These girls have had a long history, starting at the age of eight when they began their basketball careers together. Ava’s dad Boyd Johnson has had a large impact on these girls as basketball players. He coached them throughout travel and in the summer of high school. From a young age, these girls have been practicing together year round with the help of Johnson’s coaching. Johnson, being a division one college basketball player, himself, has used his skill and knowledge to help these girls become successful basketball players.
A few of the girls have played on other teams during the AAU season. A
va, Victoria, and AJ have all played for Connecticut Storm at some point through high school. Ava and Victoria also played together for CBA their seventh grade year. This gave them an opportunity to play with other basketball players from other towns, which improved their basketball skills. Ava Johnson explains that even though it was a great experience playing with new people and for new coaches, “nothing compared to the bond that we have.”
Morgan’s head girl’s basketball coach Caitlin Woods thinks highly of these six seniors and relies on them to lead her team. Woods said that “The six seniors have all evolved into tremendous leaders and terrific role models that lead by example.” She said that the tight-knit group is something that you don’t see often anymore, which she believes has caused our team to be successful.
Maeve Madura, a senior captain, said that this season is very sentimental as it is the last year the seniors will be playing together. She also said that “my favorite basketball memory is growing up in travel when we would have parties at the end of the year, and it would always be a fun bonding moment.” AJ Luke, another senior captain, said that she loves to see her teammates and herself grow as players through the years and see them be key players that have helped lead their final season together successfully. “Any game can be our last now, so we are trying to make the most of what we have left as we know we won’t be playing together in the future,” she said about their season coming to an end for the last time.
These six seniors hope to lead their team to a successful post-season run. They competed in the shoreline championship game on Friday, February 23 as the second seed and played against the number one seed East Hampton. They unfortunately lost with a score of 62-44. They start states with a first round bye, then they will play on Thursday, February 29th, against the winner of the Kolbe Cathedral vs. International/Aerospace game for their first game of states.