Morgan State women’s basketball graduate student Taylor Addison recently spoke with PressBox about her favorite memory with the Bears, her best friend on the team and more. The 5-foot-10 forward averaged 7.4 points and 5.1 rebounds for Morgan last year after transferring in from Mount St. Mary’s. Addison is a native of Columbia, Md., and graduate of Howard High School.
PressBox: How did you become interested in basketball?
Taylor Addison: I actually had a cousin, [Jordan], and we were close in age — we were six days apart — and we kind of did everything together. We ran track, played soccer, and she started to play basketball. I wasn’t really sure about it. I went to a couple of her games and then I was always taller — not super tall, but taller — and the coach asked me to join and then I decided to start playing. I instantly fell in love with it and basically it became my favorite sport.
PB: Who was the biggest influence on your game growing up?
TA: My mom, [Shalita], is my biggest influence growing up, because my mom had always made me able to go to games and play AAU and play high school basketball and middle school basketball. I would say my first and second AAU coaches really helped me as well. My mom being a single mom, they also helped with rides and things like that. They really made me love the game. I still talk to both coaches to this day. My high school coach definitely helped me fall in love with the game and get my scholarship. I still talk to him to this day.
PB: Why did you transfer to Morgan State after three seasons at Mount St. Mary’s?
TA: The reason why I chose to transfer is because I was just looking for a new experience. I like the experience of being at an HBCU. Mount St. Mary’s was a smaller college, and I wanted to come to a bigger school and be closer to home.
PB: What is your favorite memory so far at Morgan?
TA: We tied three ways for the [regular-season] title in the conference [in 2021-22]. Although we did tie three ways, it was a nice experience just because it was the first time in Morgan State history that they had gotten first place for the conference at all. I was super happy. We were in the locker room cheering and stuff. It was really nice to hear that we made history at the school and brought them the first conference [regular-season] title.
PB: What is your favorite thing about Morgan?
TA: My favorite thing about Morgan is my coaches and my teammates. I really like the coaches because I feel like they really care about you and they make it important that while getting better at your game, you’re also doing [well] in the classroom, your personal life is going well and things like that. They also push me just to be better and recognize everyone. I just love the environment of the school and everything that it brings.
PB: What is your favorite thing about Baltimore?
TA: I like the city. I like that everything is nearby. I can literally walk across the street and go to a grocery store. There are so many restaurants, so many different places to eat. The Inner Harbor’s really pretty and that’s about 10, 15 minutes from my school. There’s just so much to do, so much going on at all times.
PB: Who’s your best friend on the team and what’s a story that underscores your friendship?
TA: My best friend on the team would be Fatima Black. Me and her started making TikToks together last summer. She was a freshman, I was a transfer, so it was our first year there [for both of us] and we just kind of got along because we would come up with different TikToks and things like that to do together. We would go meet with recruits that Morgan had and we would also do TikToks with them.
PB: Was there anyone you looked up to earlier in your college career?
TA: I looked up to Dahnye Redd. She was a captain. I’ve been a captain of my team a lot, but she was one of the best captains other than myself that I’ve had because every single day he showed up to practice and did what she needed to do. She really gave it 110 percent every day. I really liked playing with her and looked up to her even though I was a senior and she was a grad student. She had two years on me, but she still showed up every day. Everything she said she was going to do she did and more. I really appreciate that, whether it be in games, out of games, conditioning, weightlifting, practice, off the court, on the court, everything.
PB: What advice would you give to younger players?
TA: The advice I would give to younger players is try to surround yourself with people who have connections because I do think that basketball is about connections. You need people to see you. You’re not going to get recruited if you don’t have a coach who’s at your games [to] see you. You might be the best player in the world, but if coaches aren’t coming to see your games or coaches don’t know about you, it’s going to be hard to get recruited. Try to find people with connections and work out every day. … Work on your game. If you have something [that is] a weakness, work on it young and early because that’ll help you get more opportunities in order to play in college.
PB: What are your goals for after basketball, whenever it ends?
TA: I want to get a marketing job, hopefully with a sports company, a sports team or an athletic brand company like Under Armour, Nike, adidas or something like that. I’m just not 100 percent sure exactly which position, but something in marketing.
Photo Credit: Piper Hansen