20 lady Mustangs are practicing for the start of girls’ basketball.
10 girls made the varsity team; 10 girls made the JV team.
According to Google AI, approximately 5.6% of the entire U.S. population (roughly 340 million) watched the 2024 NCAA Women’s Championship Game (18.9 million viewers), which was the most-watched basketball game at any level since 2019. The general takeaway is that over half of U.S. adults have engaged with women’s sports recently, and basketball is the most popular women’s sport for U.S. viewers. The 2024 NCAA Championship Game audience was up approximately 90% from the 2023 final. This is particularly significant because the 2024 game beat the viewership of the Men’s Championship for the first time ever. For the first time ever, the 2024 NCAA Women’s Championship Game drew more viewers (18.9 million) than the Men’s Championship Game (14.8 million), showing that a large portion of the U.S. audience is highly engaged with the women’s game.
In a recent survey of 105 Morton East students, 45 students said they had watched a girls’ basketball game. That’s roughly 43% of the school sample — showing strong support for the team and growing student interest in girls’ sports.
Coach Logan Brown has been coaching girls’ basketball for seven years at Morton; the last four years as head coach. He’s looking forward to the new season.
“Yes, I’m very excited. I already said bye to my family since I don’t get to see them as much during the season, so my wife is going to take care of the kids — I have 2 girls at home. This season is longer and more intense since it’s during the winter, so I’m excited for this year. Maybe I’ve talked about this before, but I have a group of seniors who have been with me since I started my journey as head coach, and they’ve supported me since day one,” said coach Logan Brown.
Coach Brown set a clear goal for this season.
“We really feel confident that we can compete in conference. I think the goal of this season is to make around 14 wins. Two girls on the varsity team are from East this year,” said coach Logan Brown.
He also shared how tough it can be to make roster decisions.
“I think that’s the thoughtful part. Some girls have a lot of hope to get in, and we have a lot of girls from East and West who want to try out, and not all of them get to be on the team. It’s really hard to have those conversations with the girls without breaking their dreams, and I have to tell them to keep trying and maybe next year. But yeah, it’s very hard to pick who you want on the team,” said coach Logan Brown
JV Head Coach Miranda Garcia says she’s also thrilled for the season to begin.
“Yes, of course — we do a lot of fun stuff for the girls,” said coach Miranda Garcia.
When asked about last year’s record, Garcia said her main focus this season is on developing players rather than wins or losses.
“Sometimes it’s hard to pick the girls when so many try out and work really hard,” she added. “That’s the hardest part — deciding who makes the team. Sometimes we miss some girls, or some girls realize that’s not their route and do a different sport, but usually they come back. Sometimes, JV is harder to get into. I think that’s the hard part about picking,” said coach Miranda Garcia.
“I remember all of my girls,” she added.
