Junior guard Myra Moorjani was named the player to watch by the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in October. “It feels great, it gets me excited for this year,” says Moorjani.

The 20-year-old Eden Prairie native grew up in a basketball family, both her parents played, as well as both of her sisters, “it’s always been a part of our family. Both my sisters play, we all play together. It's just a family business,” she said. Moorjani played for Eden Prairie High School before making her way to UMD where her team won the NSIC championship while also making it to the national championship her freshman season. While Moorjani says she didn’t play much that season, she learned that a role on the bench, where she cheered on her teammates, is just as important as being out on the court. “It just makes such a difference, the bench energy totally makes everything so much better,” says Moorjani. The team has welcomed many new teammates since starting their 24-25 season with players learning new roles, “We’re definitely a brand new team this year. Just finding out our identity as a team. I’m just getting to know my new role, as a player and as a leader on the team.” 

Now, in her junior season with new players, Moorjani credits the team's success to its encouraging culture.  “I feel like that’s a big reason why I came here, just because you could see the culture of girls is so close,” she said. Everyone gets along and bonds with each other, which makes a world of difference. “That’s kind of what you need from a team, when you spend every single day with them during the season.”

Before her games, Moorjani likes to join her teammates in the locker room and listen to music in order to hype each other up before locking in while on the court. Their head coach, Mandy Pearson, also supports this ethic. “Our coach totally fits that vibe too, she’s very serious when it comes down to it, but also loves to have fun with us.”

Every game the team plays is different and allows them to learn along the way, even after a loss. “One of the teams has to lose, so just being able to bounce back from that, not letting one game affect the next,” she said. With as much passion as Moorjani has, she finds that she can be very competitive when it comes to the game, “I hate losing, my teammates could tell you that. It’s fun being able to compete every single day.” 

With as much competitive spirit as Moorjani has, this is her first year focusing on only one sport. The athlete was on both the soccer and basketball teams the last two years. “This is my first year just doing basketball. That was a really hard decision for me to make to not play soccer.” The athlete went on to say that she was thankful for having coaches that were willing to split her and work with her through the seasons’ overlap. 

It takes a dedicated person like Moorjni to be able to balance two sports, let alone her academic responsibilities. Outside of basketball, Moorjani works just as hard on her schooling as she does while out on the court. Like many students, Moorjani attends classes in the morning before making her way home to work on homework. Even with everything she has going on, Moorjani still makes sure to schedule her daily nap before heading to practice in the afternoon.