The 6’1 power forward has been on a tear in Athletes Unlimited, averaging a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds per game. During her rookie WNBA season with the Connecticut Sun, Morrow was still solidifying her role and working on her craft. But like with the many rebounds she snags in the paint, she’s found success on the court by carrying herself with confidence.
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The IX Basketball caught up with Morrow just after she had signed with Reebok. That word, authenticity, appeared yet again as she explained why she chose to join the athletic brand’s roster, which also includes Angel Reese and DiJonai Carrington.
“I feel like it matches me as a player. When you think about the players that they have signed, they are very authentic. They’re themselves, but they also are gritty — and pretty girls, too,” Morrow explained. “But at the same time, when they get on the floor, their presence is made. They’re very feisty. They’re dominant, especially when you think about rebounding … I am bold when I get on the floor and I want to play, I want to trash talk. I’m going to do all this stuff because I want to show my work ethic … It really represents and is a good shoe deal for me, because I just see that they not only embrace that, but they value it.”
Morrow, who played with Reese in college at LSU, says her former Tigers teammate has reached out to her since she signed with Reebok, calling it a “full circle” moment for the both of them. Morrow says she admired the way Reese has continued to elevate not just women’s basketball, but women’s sports more broadly.
“We’re always going to support each other, it’s all love. I want the best for her, she wants the best for me,” Morrow said. “There’s a lot of free agency stuff that’s happening as well. You really [never] know where everyone is going to be, what opportunities are presented. I feel like we both build our name off our work ethic and especially on the boards.”
Morrow’s addition to Reebok’s roster comes at a pivotal moment for both her and the brand; earlier this week, WNBL Australia announced Reebok will be the league’s official footwear partner. It will also launch the Start Her Season Right initiative, which will provide newly minted professional players with gear at the start of the WNBL season.
And then there’s the highly anticipated launch of Reese’s signature sneaker, the AR1s, another example of how Reebok is continuing to innovate in the women’s basketball space. Reese also led the launch of Reebok’s Engine A, the brand’s first performance basketball shoe in over a decade. For Morrow, signing with Reebok is a chance to expand both her game and her impact, with the support of a brand partner that has already demonstrated its dedication to women’s basketball.
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On the court, Morrow has often been praised for her rebounding ability. But in the offseason, she has been focused on diversifying her game and becoming a three-, even four-level scorer who can, in her words, “knock down threes, take you off the bounce, finish at the rim and also being able to distribute the ball to other players as well.”
This offseason, in between spending time with family, she was able to work toward that goal. All the while, her abs went viral online, with many wondering about her workout routine and the secret to her six (eight?) pack. In reality, Morrow explained, it’s the result of years spent on training, especially this past summer: “This has been … almost five to six years of work that’s been done. I’ve been able to really, really tune in this summer and take some time,” she said. “The biggest thing for me was losing weight and getting leaner, which is kind of crazy, because I don’t feel like I really lost any weight. I probably lost like 10 pounds. I look a little bit leaner, in my opinion, so I feel a little bit lighter on my feet. I feel more explosive.”
When asked if she was surprised by the attention, a confident Morrow replied: “Actually I wasn’t, because some days, I wake up and I’d be like, damn. So I don’t think that it surprised me at all. I feel like it’s not something that a lot of people see, especially not from a basketball player … [in] fitness you might see that, or models, but not for your typical basketball player that’s hooping, getting those double doubles.”
With that strong foundation, Morrow says she’s ready to take that next step into becoming what she calls a “mismatch nightmare”:
“The next level would be able to guard — because I love to start with defense, I feel like everything else is controllable — the two through five, and be able to be able to go against them offensively and be a mismatched nightmare,” she said. “That’s that’s the goal for me. I want to be a mismatch nightmare that when we sit on this floor, every team has to change their defense up for me. ‘How do we guard Aneesah? How do we stop Aneesah?’ I worked extremely hard to have my motor and continue to do that in the offseason, and just conditioning and getting in the right fitness. I want that to be the biggest problem for any team that I go against.”
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As the youngest Athletes Unlimited captain, Morrow says she’s ready to truly come into her own and embrace being in a leadership position, expanding her presence on the court and in the locker room.
“Yesterday, when we played, I was like, this is actually pretty tough,” Morrow said. “Being a leader, running a team, making sure you know you’re talking with the coach, and do the scouting report together and scouting the other team and seeing everything that they’re doing is pretty tough.”
Morrow admits that while she’s always been more of a ‘lead by example’ type, given her quiet nature and introverted personality, her desire to be great is what’s pushing her forward.
“That’s what comes with leadership, and it’s tough because everyone’s not gonna like you. You have to hold people accountable, you have to hold them to the standard and it’s okay. You have to be okay with however that goes – there are certain ways to talk to people, you have to figure out personalities. When you take things to the next notch, but are able to bring people with you with success, that’s what makes you elite and special.”