Danielle Morgan is the lone senior on the Lompoc High School basketball team this season. Luckily for the Braves, she’s also one of the top ballers on the Central Coast.
The 5-foot-10 small forward is averaging an eye-popping 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game in the early going, pushing a developing Lompoc squad to a respectable 4-4 start.
“We have young team,” Morgan told the Sun. “As the only senior, I feel like I really have to step it up.”
During Morgan’s recent tear, Lompoc has notched preseason wins over Hanford, St. Joseph, Pioneer Valley, and Righetti high schools.
“For how young we are, we’re doing pretty well,” Morgan said. “We’ve made such good progress that I really hope by the end of the season we’re really going to do some damage.”
A hopeful college player, Morgan said she’s making somewhat of a positional transition this season—moving outside, from the low post to the perimeter, where she’ll likely need to play in college.
“Growing up, I’ve always been bigger than everyone else, so I was always the post player,” she explained. “Now I’m not big enough to be a post player, but I’m not small enough to be a guard. I need to work on my outside shooting.”
Making the whole process easier is Morgan’s mother, Claudia Terrones, who coaches her at Lompoc. Terrones, who played college basketball herself at Gonzaga and before that won a state title for St. Joe’s, has coached Morgan for as “long as I can remember,” she said.
“I’ve been raised in basketball mode,” Morgan laughed.
While some familial coach-player dynamics can get strained, Morgan said she and her mom have found the sweet spot.
“We get along fine,” she said. “Sometimes we butt heads, just like any other coach and player or mom and kid. But I really enjoy having her as my coach because if anything, she’s harder on me and I really like that. I need someone to push me like she does in order to be successful.”
Morgan is currently looking at San Francisco State as a lead candidate for college, but she added that her focus is on the current Lompoc season, where the Braves desperately need her leadership and talent.
“When I see my team struggling, I really need to be that person,” Morgan said. “In the past, I never really had to be. But I guess now’s my time.”
This article appears in Jan 4-11, 2018.