Morgan Rachu of Marathon City leads UW-Marathon County to state title, undefeated season

WAUSAU - Sometimes the athletic programs at the junior college level need a little luck to be successful. 

After graduating from Marathon High School in 2016, Morgan Rachu was nearly ready to head to play women's basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Instead, Rachu had a change of heart and opted to remain even closer to home, going to the University of Wisconsin Marathon County. 

"I was really close to just saying yes and going to UWSP," Rachu said. "But I thought that since I had no idea what I wanted to (major in academically), being (at UWMC) was best for me."

After a productive season last year, Rachu dominated this season and led the Huskies to an undefeated season and a Wisconsin Collegiate Conference state title earlier this month. In the two games at state at JustAGame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells, Rachu scored 91 combined points, capping off a year in which she averaged 37.8 points and 13.8 rebounds per game. 

"If you would have told me last year that I'd be the player I am today...I put a lot of work in, and I am proud of myself and the entire team for making me the player I am today. I couldn't have done it without them," she said. 

An added bonus to Rachu for going to UW-Marathon County was that her close friend Jayci Blume was also attending the school. While all of the attention was on Rachu on the basketball court, Blume wasn't too shabby either, averaging nearly 18 points per game and 5.6 assists. 

The trio of Marathon High School graduates of Rachu, Blume and Allison Stieber — a 2017 graduate — have played a ton of basketball together, something that turned out to be much needed this year, as coach Derek Staley left for UW-River Falls. 

"We all knew if we wanted success, you have to get along," Blume said. "We didn't force it, but we made it into a family atmosphere. We looked forward to practices and had fun with it. We had dinner together, study tables together. We wanted a family-like atmosphere."

The trio's cohesion on the court rubbed off on teammates and was a help to coach Mike De Buhr, who had previously coached the Huskies five years ago. 

"Just the chemistry and the fun they have. They are such easy-going girls that everyone on the team just felt comfortable," De Buhr said. "There wasn't anyone jealous of others for scoring more, because of who they were as people."

The close-knit Huskies were a run-and-gun team that played full-court pressure defense and shot a lot of three-pointers. There was no relenting on the defensive end. Rachu flourished and the rest of the team did, as well. 

By not relenting the Huskies rarely took the press off opponents. The Huskies scored 100 or more points in 8 of 19 games and won by over 100 points on two occasions. 

Rachu scored 43 and 48 points at the state tournament, putting an exclamation point on the Huskies' season. In her two years at UWMC, Rachu has amassed 1,085 points in 38 games. 

Some opponents took some issue with Rachu's numbers, saying she should have been taken out of games earlier with the game's result not in question. But, UWMC women's basketball coach doesn't buy that.

"A lot of people are going to look and say 'You won by a lot of points, why'd (Morgan) play so much?'" De Buhr said. "Because I wanted her to get recruited and she wasn't going to get recruited if she averaged 20 points ... I wanted her and her teammates to get the numbers they deserved, and now Morgan, Jayci, Amber (Krause) and another girl all have the opportunity to play somewhere next year."

Now, Rachu is ready to take her game to the next level and teams are lining up. The state WIAC schools and Division II schools Northern Michigan and Winona State are also intrigued. They are also sending game tape to Division I schools. 

"I just removed the leash and let 'em go," De Buhr said. "The best part about Morgan is it's not all about her. She's a team player. She comes to practice and works hard and the rest of the team feeds off of her and her personality. She's always smiling off the court."

With her and her teammates' play on the court, it's not hard to see why she's smiling.

"Keeping the chemistry between the team throughout the whole season, with an undefeated season, it's hard to continue to play when you're beating teams by various amounts," Rachu said. "But how we came to practice, how stayed committed and focused, and wanting to win, that's how we pulled out with such success."