Morrisette Tunes Up For Final Auditions
Jayme Morrisette should be a hot commodity for the next month.
The Ferris guard is one of the few quality graduated seniors not to have a scholarship in hand as the summer basketball tournament season gets underway.
She’ll draw plenty of attention from college coaches who lose players to academic failure or injury or like what they see and offer that final scholarship they are saving.
“Yesterday I played for 3 hours, so I guess I’m ready. I’m trying to get ready, at least,” Morrisette said recently. “I’ve always kind of liked pressure. It makes me play better, I think.”
The first public outing is Saturday, when the Eastern Washington Stars take on the North Idaho Stars in the annual Jack Blair Memorial Washington/Idaho Girls’ AAU All-Star game, at East Valley High School. Game time is 7:30. Washington leads the series 2-0.
“I think the all-star game is a big preparation; it is the starting process. That’s when I have to start proving myself in the big game against quality players,” Morrisette said.
“It’s fun playing with those people. We all get along really well. We play good team basketball. It’s really simple when you have good players playing together.”
It seems surprising Morrisette is still a free agent. The Saxons went 20-7 her junior year, losing the game that would have sent them to state. Last season, the team went 24-6, finished third at state and was one of two teams to beat state champion Mead.
Morrisette is a 5-foot-11 guard, mostly a point guard in high school but a projected shooting guard in college. With a 3.85 gradepoint average, there should be a place for her to play.
“I’m not disappointed,” she said. “I think I need to have a good national tournament. I haven’t played well the last two national tournaments, my only two years. If I play well, the scholarships will come.”
Nationals again hold the key, and Morrisette is ready for the tournament, which is in the Spokane area next month. She is on one of the Spokane Stars 18U teams that will participate in the July 6-13 tournament. Spokane is the host city for the 16U and 18U tournaments.
“I think what is different this year from last year is my maturity,” Morrisette said. “When I was a junior, Emily (Ireland) was the leader. This year, Jennifer (Swinton) and I had to take on that role. That helped a lot, not so much the skills as the mental game, which is what I think I’ve always been lacking.”
Morrisette has been accepted at the University of Washington, where she would study psychology with an emphasis on children or sports. For now, basketball comes first. And she would go to a Division II school if necessary.
“I’ve always wanted to go to D-I school since I was ‘two apples,”’ she said, using a Smurf phrase for small. “It’s the level of competition. I want to get better, I want to play against people that are better than me. I know I’ll get that at Division I for sure. I guess it’s the challenge.
“I don’t know if (basketball) is more important (than academics), I’ve just always wanted to play basketball in college. Of course, if I got a full ride to Yale, I’d go there.”
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