Team MC Shootout

We haven't been available for many shootouts this summer, but Morgan was able to go to one this weekend. They won both of their games and tied for first place. They didn't play the other team that won both of their games just because of how the games were set up. So, they got medals!

Memorial Day Weekend

We were excited to have an extra long weekend!

Morgan played in a shootout on Saturday morning for Team MC. They only had five players to start the first game, then another showed up during the first game. It was a mix of players from grades and levels. They lost both games. :(

She also played in a shootout on Sunday morning with the same group of girls plus one more. They won their first game, but lost the second one.

Avery had her photo shoot for her dance recital on Sunday afternoon. She did her own hair and makeup this time! She's getting so good at it! :) Can't wait to see the pictures!

On Sunday, we drove out to Brett's house to celebrate Calvin's birthday. The weather was gorgeous and the kids had a blast swimming. Grayson had just broken his ankle, so he had to sit out of the swimming and activities.

Avery's dance class wasn't canceled, so she had to go to hip hop after we got back from Brett's house.

Such a fun weekend - so ready for the end of school and for summer to start!

Basketball shootout

Morgan played with the 8th graders in a one day tournament on Sunday. They only had six girls, so she got a lot of playing time. They won the first game 38-14. She got fouled quite a bit and made a lot of free throws! It was one of her best games!

She took a break between games outside to cool off!

They ended up losing their second game 27-26, which was disappointing. They played really well and had a couple of chances at the end. Morgan had another great game! :)

Team MC Gold - Highlights

Matt put together the highlights from the Team MC Gold season from all the videos he'd taken this season. We had the girls over to our house for a pizza party and to watch the video together. It was fun to see their reactions to the video - and hear their commentary! The coaches were also able to make it for the watch party.

Here's a link to the video:  Team MC Gold Highlights

DYTBL Playoffs - 4th place!

Big weekend for Morgan and Team MC - the playoffs! They were seeded 6th in the league, which put them in the Upper Silver bracket. There was Upper / Lower Silver and Upper / Lower Bronze (31 teams in total).

In the first round, Team MC played the Oakbrook Knights. In the regular season, Team MC won by 2 points in their first match up, but lost by 10 in the second match up. So, Morgan was nervous about playing them again. The game was at 11:30 on Saturday. Morgan and her team played great! She even sunk a clutch 3-pointer to help get them ahead! She also had quite a few free throws. They ended up winning the game 25-16. :)

   

Here's another video... Morgan with the steal and layup (and she got checked to the floor!). 

And yes, that was an over and back by the other team that the ref missed. :)

 

In the second round, they played against Western Springs (at 1:50 on Saturday). In the regular season, Western Springs beat them 34-26 and 30-17 in our two match-ups. Western Springs is a tough team and ended up seeded 2nd overall for the playoffs. The girls played tough, but just couldn't get ahead. Western Springs won 34-26.

Morgan was excited that Mama and Papa could watch her play!

Since they lost in round 2, they played in the 3rd/4th place game on Sunday at 12:40. The team they played was Huntley Red, which is a team from the other division. So, we hadn't actually played them during the regular season. Huntley was actually seeded 1st overall in the playoffs (undefeated in their regular season), but they lost in the second round to the 4th seed. This was another tough game for the girls. Their shots were just not falling. They were down by 11 points a lot of the game. They did get back within 5 points and it was an exciting game. But, Huntley ended up winning 40-31. Morgan played tough and got beat up a bit. The refs were all over the place calling lots of fouls and missing others. Girls on both teams were in foul trouble. Morgan was able to play with 3 fouls until almost the end of the game when she got her 4th. They ended their season in 4th place, which is great!

We are so proud of Morgan this season! She's improved so much since she started playing for Team MC in the fall of 2024! It's fun to watch her play and do so well! :)

Here's a link to all the games: Team MC 7th Grade Gold - Winter 2025 Season

Last regular season Team MC game

Morgan's Team MC played their last regular season game against Riverside Brookfield Sunday. I remembered to take some pictures this game! Morgan's team had already beat this team at the beginning of the season and they won this game easily, too.

Here she is grabbing the rebound.

Going in for a layup...

She got fouled... in case you couldn't tell - ha!

She made the free throws, too! :)

They ended the season as the 6th seed (out of 16 teams). They had the same record as the 5th place team, but had given up more points per game than that team, so that was the tie breaker for seeding.

Next weekend is the tournament! There are two divisions in the 7th grade - Silver and Bronze. And each of those divisions are split into two subdivisions by location East and West. For the regular season, you play the teams in your subdivision. Then, at the end of the season they rank all the teams in Silver and split them into an upper (top 8 teams) and lower (bottom 8 teams) and do the same for Bronze. Then, each has their own tournament. Last year, Morgan's team was in lower bracket. This year, they made it to the upper bracket.

More Team MC basketball

Morgan's team played against Glenbard East again this weekend on Saturday. This time it was an away game. Glenbard East is a huge high school! The game this weekend did not go as well for the girls. They started out really slow and tired. They were losing 10-1 at the end of the 1st quarter. They managed to tie it up by halftime. It was close the rest of the game and they managed to win by 1 point at the end.

On Sunday, Morgan's team played against Western Springs, who are in first place in our league with a record of 10-1. We already lost to them once this season. Morgan's team got down pretty quickly and just could never get back up. They actually tied them for points during the second half, but since they were already down by so much the first half, they just couldn't pull off the win.

Team MC Game vs Glenbard East

Morgan's team won against Glenbard East 41-26. It was a more physical team, so the girls were getting a little more beat up that normal. :) Morgan got to shoot quite a few free throws. One time she got hit in the eye pretty good, but luckily she didn't end up with a black eye!

Morgan on defense here... 

She stole the ball!

Basketball at Benedictine

Morgan's travel basketball team got to watch the Benedictine University girls game and scrimmage during halftime. The coach of the Maroon team (Olympia) plays for Benedictine, so she arranged this for the girls. They got to go meet the team and hang out in the locker room with them. They all had a fun time! I wasn't able to go, but did catch some of it on the live stream (although it was just the middle of the court for the halftime scrimmage).

They had 10 girls from the Gold and Maroon teams, so they split them up into two teams to scrimmage. Coach Frankie (the Gold Team's coach, who is Olympia's sister and looks SO much like her!) and Coach Harper coached the girls during the scrimmage.

I got this fast break by Morgan on a screen shot... but this was all I could see of the halftime scrimmage because they turned off the motion following for the camera.

Giving Coach Olympia high-fives after the game

Team MC wins!

I haven't been taking many pictures at the games, but Morgan has had a few Team MC winter league games already. They are currently 6-2.

Let's celebrate the winning season!

The girls basketball team got together for a pizza party to celebrate their success and 4th place finish in the state tournament.

State Finals

Morgan's team played in the consolation bracket on Thursday night for 3rd and 4th place. They let the girls out of school early at 2:30, so we could get on the road. The last 30 minutes of our drive was in snow! My Dad was able to come to the game because he was heading up to Downers Grove for the weekend to help Ross out with the boys while Erin was in Rochester.

I didn't get many pictures, but here are the girls warming up before the game.

In the second half, Morgan got taken out by a girl on the other team. She hit the ground hard! The refs called it a flagrant foul and Morgan got to shoot two free throws by herself. She was able to shake it off and move on with the game.

The girls couldn't pull off a win, but finished in 4th place in the state for 4A 7th grade. Such a great accomplishment and so proud of how hard these girls worked! A lot of these girls have played together before on their travel teams, but this was the first time Morgan has played with most of them.

The drive home was a little dicey! For most of the way, it was snowing hard straight at us and there was snow on the highways! It had snowed the whole time we were in the gym. We made it back to Downers Grove, where it hadn't even snowed at all. Go figure!