Morgan Koch’s freshman season with the Montgomery County girls basketball team last winter was something she would like to forget.

“I tore my ACL in practice,” Koch said. “It was in December, so I was out for basically the entire season.”

After a month in the 2021-22 season, Koch is not only staying injury free, but she also has been one of the top players off the bench for the Wildcats.

“I think you’re going to continue to see Morgan be successful as the season goes on and she gets more experience,” MCHS coach Joe Basinger said.

Koch, a sophomore, turned in her best performance of the season on Dec. 21 against the Monroe City Panthers at Ballew & Snell Court, scoring six points off the bench to help the Wildcats pull off a come-from-behind, 41-27 win. She scored all of her points in the second half and helped the Wildcats’ reserves outscore Monroe City’s reserves 15-6.

“Getting the victory, especially with this team, is really amazing,” Koch said. “These girls are so connected. We’ve been playing for so long. It’s awesome.”

The Wildcats headed into their nine-game holiday break with a 7-3 record. They will be back in action on Dec. 30 with a road game against North Callaway.

Koch said she’s thrilled she’s playing for a winning team after four weeks.

“They are so amazingly talented,” she said. “I’m so lucky to have them. I love playing basketball with them. They make me love the game, even when it gets hard.”

The Wildcats got off a slow start, trailing 8-2 after the first quarter and 12-9 at halftime. But they started the third quarter with a 13-0 run to take a 22-12 lead and never looked back.

“In the first half, it was a little rocky, of course,” Koch said. “But whenever we came out of halftime, we were doing great. We had a lot of good energy. The girls are super positive. It was a great second half.”

Basinger said he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance in the first half. The Wildcats didn’t score their first basket until 2:13 left in the first quarter.

“We said some things at halftime,” Basinger said. “We talked mainly about attitudes and how we were not acting very mature out there when it came to missing shots. We started doing the whole ‘poor me’ card and felt sorry for ourselves about whether we were making or missing shots instead of playing the game of basketball they were supposed to play.”

Still, MCHS was able to avenge last year’s 63-47 loss to Monroe City, which dropped to 0-5. The Panthers lost most of their starters from their 23-3 team a year ago.

“Coach (Adam) Rung does a good job,” Basinger said. “He’s a really experienced coach. He’s got them doing some good things. They came out and played really well tonight. We, for sure, did not match their intensity.”

Basinger said he was impressed with Koch’s performance. She scored a basket late in the third quarter that extended the Wildcats’ lead to 24-13. She scored back-to-back baskets in the fourth to boost MCHS’ lead to 36-19.

“I thought Morgan Koch gave me a lot of good minutes coming off the bench tonight,” Basinger said. “Morgan is a kid who works extremely hard.”

Sophomore Malia Rodgers scored 12 points, all in the second half, to lead the Wildcats. She scored nine points during MCHS’ 13-0 run in the third quarter.