CRESTVIEW HILLS, KY – Morgan Hunt a 2023 graduate of Tri-Village and a key player on the 2023, 30-0 Girls State Championship team has parlayed that success to the next level at Thomas More College near Covington, Kentucky.
Thomas More plays in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and competes in NCAA Division II with member teams located in Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky. Those teams include Ashland, Cedarville, Findlay, Hillsdale, Kentucky Wesleyan, Lake Erie, Malone, Northwood, Ohio Dominican, Thomas More, Tiffin, Ursuline, and Walsh.
Hunt is in her junior year at the school, her team is currently 19-5 overall and 11-4 in the GMAC. After leading the conference for much of the year they have dropped into 3rd place.
The Saints got off to an 18-2 start … but a couple of late season ending injuries befalling two of their starters resulted in 3 losses over their last 4 games.
Morgan Hunt has been a key player for Thomas More and the versatility she displayed at Tri-Village playing multiple positions, scoring, running the floor, rebounding, and guarding the other team’s best player is exactly what she finds herself doing again for the Saints.
Morgan’s career up to this point includes appearing in all 29 games her freshman year, with 6 starts for the Saints, averaging 19.1 minutes, 3.7 points, 1.2 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game.
She started all 29 games for the Saints her sophomore year and averaged 31.7 minutes, 8.5 points, and 4.9 rebounds per game.
Now in her junior year she has started all 24 games and leads the team again with 30 minutes a contest and averaging 9 ppg.
Due to those injuries, Morgan has had to step up and handle some of the ball-handling duties and in their recent game with Walsh University, showed that versatility and willingness to help her team any way she can.
After shooting just two times and scoring three points in the first half, Morgan turned it up a bit in the second.
Trailing 53-47 in the third quarter Hunt drilled her 2nd triple of the game cutting the margin 53-50, then got an assist finding Izzy Rotert in the paint closing the gap 53-52.
The two teams traded baskets until Hunt buried two free throws late third quarter tying the game.
She made a couple more freebies in early part of 4th to give the Saints a two-point lead … then moments later got a steal leading to a lay-up for Kendall Sterling pushing Thomas More’s lead 64-58.
Hunt rained in her 3rd triple at 5:45 for the Saints for their largest lead 72-62 and giving her 13 points in the game.
However, Thomas More went cold late letting the lead slip away and eventually falling 81-77 to a team they beat by 20 a few weeks ago at full strength.
The Saints didn’t win the game but watching Morgan Hunt brought back many good memories. She stood out on the floor in high school with excellent basketball IQ, solid fundamentals and a motor that doesn’t stop. It’s a formula every coach looks for and is easy to see why she leads the team in minutes played and stands out on the college floor as well.
The four regular season games left will be a little tougher without their two starting guards and leaves the post-season still in question.
Thomas More graduates two seniors from this year’s team and with a healthy return of those two guards, next year could be a great year for Morgan and her team.
Morgan has had tremendous support from her family while at Thomas More with her parents Ryan and Kimmie Hunt trying to make as many games as they can but it is a tough balancing act.
With their son Hayden Hunt a junior on the 21-0 Tri-Village boys varsity basketball team and daughter Raegan Hunt a freshman on the 18-4 Tri-Village girls basketball team, it’s a real challenge to work and get to all their games.
Kimmie’s dad, Kim and Deb Baker have been to a few of Morgan’s away games and try to stream games they can’t make.
Kimmie’s mom, Diana and Mike Floyd can be seen at most home games and also stream away games when they can.
Ryan’s parents Roger and Marcia Hunt owners of Happy Feet in New Madison also attend all Morgan’s home games and travel to a majority of their away games too.
The Thomas More Women’s basketball team lovingly refers to them as “Team Grandparents” and call Roger, Papaw and Marcia, Nana.
Next year Versailles High School senior guard Katie Litten is committed to play for the Saints and will pair up with Morgan Hunt to give Darke County basketball enthusiast a couple of reasons to make the manageable two-hour drive to Northern Kentucky.
If you happen to make the trip to see these two young ladies play at the collegiate level, say hello to Morgan’s family, they will be center court in the front two rows.
