Morales' roots paved way for storied career
3/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
She grew up with three brothers who never believed in babying little sister.
They played a basketball variation called cutthroat on a slab of concrete dad poured at their Billings home. Mandy Morales figures that was her first big break - always being included by her brothers.
???It was blood,??? she said of her countless cutthroat capers. ???You know, there would be a foul and my brothers might make me cry. Or if I beat my youngest brother Michael - he probably won't like me saying this - but he'd pout because he got beat by his sister.
???My older brothers would root for me but they wanted me to be physical. They would never call fouls until I fell on the ground and had scraped-up knees.???
Little did Kevin, Wesley and Michael Morales realize they were conditioning little sister to be one of the greatest players to ever don a college uniform in Montana. A Lady Griz talent so special she deserves mention in the same sentence with All-American Shannon Cate.
A competitor so uniquely fierce she had to be reined in when she arrived in Missoula.
???Back home we always made it a competition,??? Morales said. ???That's where I get the fighting, the fierce, whatever you want to call it.
???I hate to lose. It comes back to always wanting to give it my best.???
Val Selman and Jim Morales passed their basketball passion down to their children from the time they could walk. When the four weren't playing outside their Road 8 home - shoveling snow for the privilege in winter - they were playing indoors in a converted rec room.
???Then I had a key to the school gym so we were there all the time,??? said Selman, a second grade teacher who played basketball at MSU-Billings. ???If there wasn't an adult in there Mandy would play by herself, so I had to sit in there and correct papers on the stage and watch her play.???
Morales liked it better when her brothers played. Even if it meant eating a little leather.
???Two of them I couldn't stop because obviously they're bigger than me,??? she said. ???Then they're swatting the ball and it made me mad. I'd always have to use a few elbows to get around them.
???But them always pushing me ... I'd like to thank them for doing that. They made me a better player.???
By the time Mandy was in fifth grade, she was playing with boys' teams at school. No pretty dresses or swinging during recess. This pint-sized dynamo with Mexican and Comanche roots was all about knee-high socks, gym shorts and lots of basketball.
???When she was scoring against the boys in the (elementary) tournaments, I think that was where I first thought, ???Wow,' ??? Selman said.
Morales was Montana's Gatorade Player of the Year as a Billings West senior. She was enamored with the idea of playing college ball in the Pac-10, so she passed on a Lady Griz scholarship to play at Arizona State.
But it wasn't long before her attachment to Montana got the best of her.
???I went to summer school down there and just came back for that Montana-Wyoming all-star game and saw Dana again and all my ex-teammates,??? Morales said, referring to former high school and college teammate Dana Conway. ???Plus my grandpa was getting pretty sick and I wanted to be back with my family.
???It's such a great decision I made coming back here. I was just talking to my mom a few days ago and she was saying ???You only have a few games left.' I said, ???Well if I went to Arizona State you maybe would have seen five games out of my whole career.' ???
From her first season with the Lady Griz, Morales has been a difference-maker, scoring in double figures 96 out of 108 games. Her skills have never been an issue, but there was some mental reconditioning that was necessary.
???I came in with about the worst attitude when I was younger,??? she admits. ???Every year it's progressed to being a little better.
???I love Coach (Robin Selvig). He's such a great guy. I've learned so much with him attitude-wise and with being a leader.???
Selvig has been only too happy to tackle the challenge.
???She's a high-strung competitor and that has worked to her disadvantage at times when she was younger,??? he said. ???She's someone who is a more consistent player now because she's able to be more level out there, which is really important.
???We always battle it because she's a great competitor. But she's had a great career and she's a really well-rounded player, which is her biggest strength. She doesn't have to score to have a big game. Really good players can beat you a lot of ways and that's what she does.???
Morales' career numbers speak for themselves. Her 1,862 points at UM are second only to Shannon Cate with 2,172, and Morales has taken 508 fewer shots.
Mandy needs just 25 assists to pass Skyla Sisco and move into second for career dishes. Sisco racked up 587 from 1994-1998.
Morales has made 509 free throws, which is 86 more than anyone else in the history of Lady Griz hoops. She has also been named Big Sky Conference player of the week a record 13 times.
Yet the gaudy numbers don't pinpoint what's inside Morales. How she fought through considerable bone-on-bone foot pain in the 2008 Big Sky tournament to earn MVP honors, scoring 31 points in the title game against Montana State. Or how she wanted to play Portland State twice the night of Jan. 29 after the Vikings handed the Lady Griz their only league loss.
Pain has often been part of the equation for Morales. This season is no exception. She'll head into Montana's biggest regular-season games of the season - Thursday against Eastern Washington and Saturday against Portland State - with nagging discomfort in her knees.
But the versatile, big-game performer is ready for the challenge. Ready to make one last run at the NCAA tournament.
???I think this is the strongest I've ever been,??? said Morales, who has worked hard to develop her upper-body strength. ???Scott (Kirchmann) has been really pushing us in the weight room, just getting us focused. He's always saying ???We're going to beat Vanderbilt next time we get a chance to play them.' It's a motivation he uses for us.???
Kirchmann, first-year director of athletic performance for UM, has also indirectly prepared Morales for what she hopes will be a pro career. Some scouts have Morales going as high as the first round in the WNBA draft.
???I'd love to keep playing, definitely,??? she said. ???But it's seeing how my body feels after this season. Either way I know it's going to be tough. I mean all those girls there (in the WNBA) are All-Americans and everything.
???Hopefully I can stay in the States. I'm iffy about overseas. My toe has been bugging me a little bit but I've been heating it and icing it after practice. Hopefully I won't have to get surgery on it after the season because usually the combine for the WNBA starts right after that.???
Regardless of what happens with pro ball, you get the feeling the 2006-07 Big Sky MVP and Nancy Leiberman Award finalist will be successful. Even if it's her chosen field of sociology, her uncommon drive to succeed is bound to help.
And to think it all started at the ???Road 8 house,??? a place Mandy still enjoys visiting when she's in Billings. The competitive spirit she honed on a slab of concrete there has helped her cement a place among the greatest hoopsters to ever call Dahlberg Arena home.
They played a basketball variation called cutthroat on a slab of concrete dad poured at their Billings home. Mandy Morales figures that was her first big break - always being included by her brothers.
???It was blood,??? she said of her countless cutthroat capers. ???You know, there would be a foul and my brothers might make me cry. Or if I beat my youngest brother Michael - he probably won't like me saying this - but he'd pout because he got beat by his sister.
???My older brothers would root for me but they wanted me to be physical. They would never call fouls until I fell on the ground and had scraped-up knees.???
Little did Kevin, Wesley and Michael Morales realize they were conditioning little sister to be one of the greatest players to ever don a college uniform in Montana. A Lady Griz talent so special she deserves mention in the same sentence with All-American Shannon Cate.
A competitor so uniquely fierce she had to be reined in when she arrived in Missoula.
???Back home we always made it a competition,??? Morales said. ???That's where I get the fighting, the fierce, whatever you want to call it.
???I hate to lose. It comes back to always wanting to give it my best.???
Val Selman and Jim Morales passed their basketball passion down to their children from the time they could walk. When the four weren't playing outside their Road 8 home - shoveling snow for the privilege in winter - they were playing indoors in a converted rec room.
???Then I had a key to the school gym so we were there all the time,??? said Selman, a second grade teacher who played basketball at MSU-Billings. ???If there wasn't an adult in there Mandy would play by herself, so I had to sit in there and correct papers on the stage and watch her play.???
Morales liked it better when her brothers played. Even if it meant eating a little leather.
???Two of them I couldn't stop because obviously they're bigger than me,??? she said. ???Then they're swatting the ball and it made me mad. I'd always have to use a few elbows to get around them.
???But them always pushing me ... I'd like to thank them for doing that. They made me a better player.???
By the time Mandy was in fifth grade, she was playing with boys' teams at school. No pretty dresses or swinging during recess. This pint-sized dynamo with Mexican and Comanche roots was all about knee-high socks, gym shorts and lots of basketball.
???When she was scoring against the boys in the (elementary) tournaments, I think that was where I first thought, ???Wow,' ??? Selman said.
Morales was Montana's Gatorade Player of the Year as a Billings West senior. She was enamored with the idea of playing college ball in the Pac-10, so she passed on a Lady Griz scholarship to play at Arizona State.
But it wasn't long before her attachment to Montana got the best of her.
???I went to summer school down there and just came back for that Montana-Wyoming all-star game and saw Dana again and all my ex-teammates,??? Morales said, referring to former high school and college teammate Dana Conway. ???Plus my grandpa was getting pretty sick and I wanted to be back with my family.
???It's such a great decision I made coming back here. I was just talking to my mom a few days ago and she was saying ???You only have a few games left.' I said, ???Well if I went to Arizona State you maybe would have seen five games out of my whole career.' ???
From her first season with the Lady Griz, Morales has been a difference-maker, scoring in double figures 96 out of 108 games. Her skills have never been an issue, but there was some mental reconditioning that was necessary.
???I came in with about the worst attitude when I was younger,??? she admits. ???Every year it's progressed to being a little better.
???I love Coach (Robin Selvig). He's such a great guy. I've learned so much with him attitude-wise and with being a leader.???
Selvig has been only too happy to tackle the challenge.
???She's a high-strung competitor and that has worked to her disadvantage at times when she was younger,??? he said. ???She's someone who is a more consistent player now because she's able to be more level out there, which is really important.
???We always battle it because she's a great competitor. But she's had a great career and she's a really well-rounded player, which is her biggest strength. She doesn't have to score to have a big game. Really good players can beat you a lot of ways and that's what she does.???
Morales' career numbers speak for themselves. Her 1,862 points at UM are second only to Shannon Cate with 2,172, and Morales has taken 508 fewer shots.
Mandy needs just 25 assists to pass Skyla Sisco and move into second for career dishes. Sisco racked up 587 from 1994-1998.
Morales has made 509 free throws, which is 86 more than anyone else in the history of Lady Griz hoops. She has also been named Big Sky Conference player of the week a record 13 times.
Yet the gaudy numbers don't pinpoint what's inside Morales. How she fought through considerable bone-on-bone foot pain in the 2008 Big Sky tournament to earn MVP honors, scoring 31 points in the title game against Montana State. Or how she wanted to play Portland State twice the night of Jan. 29 after the Vikings handed the Lady Griz their only league loss.
Pain has often been part of the equation for Morales. This season is no exception. She'll head into Montana's biggest regular-season games of the season - Thursday against Eastern Washington and Saturday against Portland State - with nagging discomfort in her knees.
But the versatile, big-game performer is ready for the challenge. Ready to make one last run at the NCAA tournament.
???I think this is the strongest I've ever been,??? said Morales, who has worked hard to develop her upper-body strength. ???Scott (Kirchmann) has been really pushing us in the weight room, just getting us focused. He's always saying ???We're going to beat Vanderbilt next time we get a chance to play them.' It's a motivation he uses for us.???
Kirchmann, first-year director of athletic performance for UM, has also indirectly prepared Morales for what she hopes will be a pro career. Some scouts have Morales going as high as the first round in the WNBA draft.
???I'd love to keep playing, definitely,??? she said. ???But it's seeing how my body feels after this season. Either way I know it's going to be tough. I mean all those girls there (in the WNBA) are All-Americans and everything.
???Hopefully I can stay in the States. I'm iffy about overseas. My toe has been bugging me a little bit but I've been heating it and icing it after practice. Hopefully I won't have to get surgery on it after the season because usually the combine for the WNBA starts right after that.???
Regardless of what happens with pro ball, you get the feeling the 2006-07 Big Sky MVP and Nancy Leiberman Award finalist will be successful. Even if it's her chosen field of sociology, her uncommon drive to succeed is bound to help.
And to think it all started at the ???Road 8 house,??? a place Mandy still enjoys visiting when she's in Billings. The competitive spirit she honed on a slab of concrete there has helped her cement a place among the greatest hoopsters to ever call Dahlberg Arena home.
Griz Basketball vs. Weber State Highlights - 1/22/26
Tuesday, January 27
Lady Griz Basketball vs. Northern Arizona Highlights - 1/19/26
Tuesday, January 20
Lady Griz vs. Northern Arizona Highlights - 1/19/26
Tuesday, January 20
Griz Basketball vs. Northern Colorado Highlights - 1/3/26
Thursday, January 15
