Morgan Kane is shining in her latest role with Iowa State women’s basketball
AMES – Morgan Kane has been asked to play many roles in her career in the state of Iowa.
The 6-3 Utah senior was a sparingly used bencher. A key starter during last season’s Sweet 16 run. And a backup center became a starter again this season.
“She’s a kid who really did everything we asked of her,” said Cyclones head coach Bill Fennelly, whose team is ranked 20th (17-8, 9-6) with 5 against TCU (7-19 , 1-2) occurs Saturday at the Hilton Coliseum. “Their roles here have changed much like the weather.”
Kane’s preseason status as a supporting post player ended when standout 6-6 grad Stephanie Soares suffered a season-ending ACL injury on Jan. 9 in an 82-79 loss at Big 12 co-leader Oklahoma. Suddenly, Kane returned to the limelight, scoring a season-best 16 points in the Cyclones’ 73-68 loss in Oklahoma on Wednesday.
Kane scored those points with just seven field goal attempts and emptied all four of her free throw attempts.
“I’m just grateful for the opportunity,” Kane said. “I try to use every moment to be on the pitch with my girls. Just enjoy the last few games.”
Or maybe several. The Cyclones have lost four of their last six games, but all but one of those setbacks have been by five points or fewer. Kane’s presence at the post has also helped take the pressure off Emily Ryan, Lexi Donarski and Ashley Joens, the ISU’s “Big Three” guards. The Cyclones have shot 40.2 percent from 3-point range in the last three games after enduring a prolonged struggle to meet shots from beyond the arc.
“I think we’re making the shots we want to make,” said Fennelly, whose team ranks second in the Big 12 in 3-pointers per game (8.7). “We need to keep making them, but overall I think we’re in a pretty good place.”
Kane’s ability to post and close games inside must become a consistent trait on offense if the ISU is to remain hopeful of hosting first- and second-round NCAA tournament games. The Cyclones sit alone in fourth place in the conference standings and could climb up to third place to improve their postseason seeding.
“It’s the nature of this time of year,” Fennelly said. “The message I gave to our kids (after the Oklahoma state loss) was, ‘Hey, I was proud of your efforts. Eventually the season comes to an end and you don’t want it to end, gosh, we missed too many layups, or we forgot a scouting report for the defensive task, or whatever. Let’s just play as hard as we (can).’”
For that reason, Fennelly has learned mostly positive lessons from the Stillwater setback, and that’s why he remains optimistic about what his team can achieve over the long term this season. Kane, he said, is coming off one of her best games as Cyclone — and she’s keen to do more at both ends of the parquet to extend her curtain season as much as possible.
“I’ll go in with the same enthusiasm and excitement,” Kane said. “Give everything I have, whether it’s 10 minutes or 20 minutes. Everything my team needs.”
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