Teammates turned rivals are still tied together

So today, the day after Thanksgiving, two former Marble Falls High School girls basketball players will find themselves in the same gym, but this time playing for different teams. 

After all, you can’t say Katie Meador without Morgan Shell or Shell and not say Meador. They graduated with the class of 2008.

Meador, who is a freshman guard for the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, will be with the 49ers today when they play in the Southern Methodist University Hoops For The Cure Tournament.

Shell is a freshman forward for the Lady Mustangs. 

Meador arrived in Texas Nov. 27.

“I am looking forward to eating Mexican food and seeing my parents (Steve and Kathy Meador),” she said. “It’ll be fun to be playing for a home crowd for me.”

Competing in the Metroplex is nothing new for Meador and Shell. Meador has played there since she was 12. 

The 49ers and Mustangs are not scheduled to meet, so fans may have to wait a little while longer before seeing Meador and Shell compete against each other.

They were pitted against each other once, the guard said, when Meador played for the Lady Knights and Shell was a member of the Lady Hawks, two Amateur Athletic Union teams. 

“It was different,” Meador said. “When she got knocked down, I helped her up. I look at it like, ‘She’s on the opposing team. She’s my enemy.’”

The two share a friendship. 

For several years Meador would catch the outlet pass and make a baseball pass to a streaking Shell for a layup. That always caught the defense off guard. 

Right now both are reserves as true freshmen. Neither are used to that role. They were four-year starters for Marble Falls and helped lead the team to the Class 4A state tournament in 2007.

“When you’re on the sideline, you learn a lot,” Meador said. “What to do, what not to do. It’s a learning experience for me. I’m learning a lot.”

And because she is used to playing a huge role on the squad, the point guard said not starting is taking some getting used to.

“I’m competitive,” she said. “I want to be out there doing what I can.”

If anyone can relate to that, it’s Shell. 

Life in Charlotte has been good, Meador said, because basketball in Carolina is what football is in Texas.

“(On Nov. 22) our (men’s basketball team) played Clemson,” she said. “We had practice at 2 (Nov. 21). I came at 1. People were camped out.”

Currently SMU is winless at 0-2, while UNCC is 3-1.

The Hoops For The Cure is a bracket tournament. Since SMU and UNCC are on opposite sides they will only meet if they both win at the same time or both lose at the same time. 

But no matter when they meet, the duo will always be tied to the high school they helped put on the Texas girls basketball map.

And it will always be difficult to say one’s name without the other.