Nya Morris was not afraid to take matters into her own hands.
After wrapping up her senior season at Woodland Hills in 2020, Morris had no other choice when catastrophe struck, leaving her in relative obscurity with NCAA women’s basketball recruiters and with any chances to continue her career on the hardwood seemingly slipping away.
“I tore my ACL April of my senior year in a summer league game, and then I tore my meniscus during an AAU game,” said Morris, who is a native of Garfield. “I ended up having to get surgery that July.
“I just looked up JUCOs, basically, on the internet,” the former Western PA Bruins AAU player added. “I was just looking up places, and I was just reaching out to coaches and applying to schools.”
Morris eventually landed on National Junior College Athletic Association Division II program Lackawanna College in Scranton where she starred for two seasons — and then once again took matters into her own hands.
In the wake of being named a regional JUCO player of the year and receiving first-team all-conference honors, Morris once again began reaching out to coaches on X, or Twitter, as it was known then.
“I was basically just commenting my name, number and attaching my highlights, links and stuff like that,” Morris said. “Coaches were reaching out to me, and I was reaching out to them. I ended up getting a couple full-ride scholarships.”
This time, Morris chose Claflin University — an NCAA Division II women’s basketball program in Orangeburg, S.C. — and was finally able to put social media aside.
Morris has led Claflin in scoring each of the past three seasons but this winter has used her game to place her name among the nation’s top guards at the Division II level.
The 5-foot-9 senior is averaging 20.3 points per game and is also shooting 43.9% from 3-point range, all while adding 3.1 steals per outing on the other end of the court. She is 11th in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage and 12th in both points and steals per game.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of work and been training with some great people over the summer time,” Morris said. “I’ve just been doing that and keep putting work in. My experience here has been pretty good.”
Claflin women’s basketball coach Terrence Jenkins could not agree more.
Aside from her status near the top of the national rankings, Morris leads the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association in scoring, field-goal percentage and 3-pointers per game, while also currently sitting in second place in steals per game.
Jenkins said he expects Morris to be named player of the year for the CIAA, which is a conference comprising 13 historically black colleges and universities.
“We always tell her to fall in love with the boring stuff, and that’s kind of hard for her,” Jenkins said. “Me being a coach and knowing your kids, once we put a score to it and a competitive end to it, that’s when she will turn and go to another level. That’s what a lot of young folks don’t have.”
That competitive edge was first on display at Lackawanna College, where Morris averaged 20.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in her second season playing with the Falcons.
Morris then averaged 12.1 points per game and was one of two players to start every game for Claflin the following season before scoring 15.4 points per outing with 181 rebounds, 88 steals and 73 assists a year ago for the Panthers.
“I’m usually a driver, but I’ve been working on my shot a lot more,” Morris said. “I’ll be taking the shots now, but I’m really a driver.”
Jenkins said Morris’ ability to develop her shot before this season has paid dividends.
Morris is shooting 49% from the field and 82% from the free-throw line this season.
“She had a little pump fake and was trying to get to the basket because she wants to get downhill, but this year she’s taking that open shot and, as you can see in her numbers, she is actually knocking it down,” Jenkins said. “She’s definitely a three-level scorer, and she’s hard to guard once she gets going.
“Once she sees that ball go through the hoop one or two times at the beginning of the game,” he added, “it’s going to be a long night for the opposing team.”
Jenkins said he is proud of Morris’ development during her time at Claflin.
“She’s definitely meant a lot to our program offensively and defensively, on and off the court, and she excels in the classroom as well,” said Jenkins, who is in his third season coaching the Panthers women’s team after 17 seasons coaching the men’s program. “She’s not only just a basketball player, she is a complete student athlete and that’s what we’ve been preaching to her the last couple years.”
The experience has been equally as meaningful for Morris. She said excelling at an HBCU has provided a powerful experience.
“I think it’s very big actually being able to play at an HBCU and just being around a bunch of great people,” Morris said. “A lot of people don’t get to experience these things, so I just think it’s really good.
“I’ve grown every year, just putting in the work, having a great support system, everybody around me helping me get better,” she added. “It just means a lot, everything.”
While Morris may have had to fight for her place in NCAA basketball to begin her career, Jenkins said he is proud of the way his player has ended her tenure with his program this season.
“This is not basic Division II,” Jenkins said. “We’ve got ballplayers. Nya being ranked nationally is showing the world, we play basketball as well. We are no slouches. We’ve got ballplayers like Nya Morris, and a lot of other players before her, who have been coming out of the CIAA.
“I always tell my young ladies, ‘You can start unknown, but leave unforgettable,’” he added. “She’s leaving that mark.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.