For the next few months, it’s basketball season for Griffith’s Morgan Von Ogden.
Well, not only basketball season.
“Right now, I’m actually doing club soccer and travel softball on top of this,” Von Ogden said. “During soccer season, I do travel softball, and then during softball season, I do club soccer.”
Such is the life for Von Ogden, a three-sport athlete who has found time on her calendar to emerge as one of the top scorers for the Griffith girls basketball team early in her junior season.
Von Ogden, a 5-foot-7 guard, was averaging 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds for the Panthers (2-4) through five games to rank second on the team behind sophomore guard Olivia Esquivel in both categories. Von Ogden is showing the potential to exceed the 8.8 points and 4.4 rebounds she averaged last season, as she hoped.
“I wanted to improve in every aspect,” she said. “I watched a lot of film from last season to see what I wasn’t doing, and a lot of it was me not getting ready for the games beforehand. This season, I want to prepare myself mentally so I only have good games.”
Griffith second-year coach Chris Tomsci raved about Von Ogden’s offensive contributions.
“She attacks the basket, and she’s improved her outside shooting a lot,” Tomsci said.
Tomsci said Von Ogden was one of the players he immediately noticed when he reviewed game film from two seasons ago.
“She jumped off the film,” Tomsci said. “Right away, that was a kid who could help us out, and if she was going to work hard, she has a chance to be a player for us.”
Von Ogden isn’t just a player for Tomsci’s team, though. She had nine goals and four assists as a midfielder during the Griffith girls soccer team’s recently completed season and hit .271 with 12 RBIs as an outfielder for the Griffith softball team in the spring.
Von Ogden said soccer is her No. 1 sport, but her continued dedication to basketball and softball are part of the same pursuit.
“I want to go to college for sports,” she said. “It doesn’t matter which one, so I’m going to train hard in everything so I can get to college in one of them. It’s just about keeping myself motivated and thinking about what that end goal is.”
Juggling multiple sports at the same time does have its challenges. Last weekend, Von Ogden had a basketball practice on Friday, a basketball game on Saturday, and soccer games both Saturday and Sunday. That schedule leaves teammates like senior center Nijah Young wondering how Von Ogden can manage it all while maintaining her upbeat attitude.
“I don’t have an answer for how she does it,” Young said. “I ask her that every day. For her to come to every practice in the morning after having a long night but still have the energy she does while being so hyper and excited, it’s amazing.”
Von Ogden’s success early this season follows a similar upward trend for the Panthers, who are already just one victory shy of their win total from last season.
“Morgan’s going to be a big part of that because she’s expanded her game and built up her confidence,” Tomsci said. “Last year was rough on everyone. We didn’t win a lot of games. But our goals are very different this year.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.