During the second quarter of the Salem Girls Varsity Basketball match-up against
Woodhaven on Dec. 5, 2023, Salem senior and Central Michigan commit Madison Morson scored the 1,000th point of her career, making her the second woman in Salem history to reach the milestone after Dean Head.
When the referee blew the whistle to signal a stoppage of play, Morson said she was confused and had no idea what was happening. As everyone came to a stop, she couldn’t tell if it was a foul or not, telling her teammates, “Get back on defense, what are y’all doing?”
After the confusion settled, Darlene Wells, wife of Rocks Varsity Girls Basketball head coach Rod Wells and head coach of the Rocks JV Girls Basketball team walked onto the court carrying a poster signed by the standout athlete’s teammates, family, coaches and others that displayed a large 1,000 signifying the milestone for Morson.
“I just lost it. It was so crazy, Abby [Resovsky] was trying to hug me, I was like, ‘Is this real’?”
Morson led her team all of her junior year season in 2022-23 averaging 20.4 points per game over the 22 games she played in as a captain. Her junior season paved the way for her to reach such a milestone with 449 of her career points scored that season.
The 2022-2023 season was special for the Rocks, making their first state semi-final since 1990. Despite the 73-58 loss, Morson had an amazing time saying, “It didn’t feel real.”
“I just loved it. It was so much fun. It was so surreal,” said Morson. “To see all my friends and staff in the stands was really really cool, everyone was there.”
Rod Wells has played a pivotal role in Morson’s development since her sophomore season. In her freshman season, under the previous head coach, Morson had played in the post, something she was uncomfortable with. Entering her sophomore season, Rod Wells began to implement her as a guard helping her develop her ball-handling, facilitating, and shooting. Rod Wells told Morson that she was going to handle the ball and shoot. Rod Wells was confident in her abilities in her new role as a guard, and it was at this position Morson would become one of the highest-ranked high school girls basketball players in the state.
Despite Rod Wells’ confidence in his star player, Morson admits that she needs to have more confidence on the court saying, “I think there’s always room for improvement, but I never want to be cocky.”
Morson is headed to play basketball at Central Michigan University for the 2024-25 season after committing on Aug. 22, 2023. She received other offers from Nebraska Omaha, Eastern Michigan, Louisiana Lafayette, Indiana Tech, Grand Valley State and North Dakota. Ultimately she chose Central Michigan for their offensive play style.
“The way she [Central Michigan head coach Kristin Haynie] explained it to me, she wants to play fast,” said Morson. “She wants to press the whole game. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Reaching a milestone like 1,000 points is something very few players ever get the chance to do. Morson couldn’t be more grateful for everyone, her coaches, family, teammates and more.
“I can’t do it by myself,” said Morson. “There’s somebody who gave me the assist for some of my points. In some of those [plays], somebody got the rebound and outlet the ball to me. There’s somebody who got the steal now we’re on a fast break then gave it to me to finish like. Just because I got the points doesn’t mean they didn’t contribute.”
