LC’s Morgan Parker sticks with hoops despite injuries

Perseverance is a term used often in sports, but Lewis and Clark High School basketball senior Morgan Parker may have her picture by the word in the dictionary.

“I had a lot of season-ending injuries, but I feel like if I was at any other place, I probably wouldn’t have stuck with it,” said Parker, who played on the Tiger hoop team since transferring from Gonzaga Prep before her sophomore season.

“Since I was at LC and we had such a bonded team and good coaches, I stuck with it and played all the way through two career-ending seasons.”

Parker saw her junior season end due to shoulder surgery and then nearly lost her senior year with a hand injury.

“I was born with loose ligaments in my shoulder,” Parker said. “All through my life, I’ve dislocated my shoulder quite easily. By my junior season, it was flowing in and out of joint quite often.

“I dislocated it in practice one day, and I slammed it against the wall to pop it back in. It was quite traumatizing for my team and myself.

“My mom and I decided that I had to have surgery to help it stay in. I had it done during the middle of the season on February 14, Valentine’s Day. They went in and tightened up all the ligaments. That was my first injury.”

“I practiced a lot during the summer and came back really strong,” she continued. “I had an amazing start of the (senior) season and was averaging quite a few points (a game).

“Then I ran into the bleachers and hurt my shoulder again. It wasn’t too bad. I would have been back within a week or so, but I had a freak accident and tore a tendon in my left hand and had to have surgery on that.

“I tripped over my cat in my bedroom, and my bedroom was quite messy and I stumbled on a pile of books. I accidentally put my hand through one of them and tore the tendon in my hand.

“It was the night before a game, so it wasn’t fun. I wasn’t able to play for quite some time, but they made a bridge for me, so I was able to finish out the season. I only played about five minutes each game because I had a huge risk of re-rupturing the same tendon.”

Parker’s perseverance paid off as her Tiger squad captured the state 4A championship this past March.

With all of her injuries during her high school career now behind her, Parker will take her knowledge of her visits to the training room and study physical therapy at the University of Montana next year.