Teige Morrell (; born December 8, 1995) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

Lakeside Lightning Lakeside Lightning is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is owned and managed by Lakeside Baptist Church. The Lightning play their home games at Lakeside R ...

of the

NBL1 West NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...

. She is also contracted with the University of Canberra Capitals of the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

(WNBL). She played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Nevada Wolf Pack The Nevada Wolf Pack are the athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno. They are part of NCAA's Division I's Mountain West Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrushers in Reno, Nevada. H ...

before playing professionally in Australia. She won the

NBL1 Central NBL1 Central, formerly the Premier League, is a semi-professional basketball league in South Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball South Australia partnered with the National Basketball League (NBL) to ...

MVP in 2019 with the Woodville Warriors and then spent a season with the

Bendigo Spirit The Bendigo Spirit are an Australian professional basketball team based in Bendigo, Victoria. The Spirit play in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendigo Stadium, Red Energy Arena. The team debuted in the ...

in the WNBL. In 2021, she helped the

Southern Tigers Southern Tigers is a NBL1 Central club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club fields both a men's and women's team. The club is a division of the overarching Southern Tigers Basketball Association (STBA), one of the major administrative b ...

win the NBL1 Central championship behind another MVP season. She joined the

Joondalup Wolves Joondalup Wolves is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Wanneroo Basketball Association (WBA), the major administrative basketball organisa ...

in 2022 and earned

All-NBL1 West First Team The All-NBL1 West First Team is an annual NBL1 West honour bestowed on the best players in the league each year. Under the State Basketball League (SBL) brand, a five-player all-star team was named every year between 2005 and 2019. On a few occasio ...

honors in 2022 and 2023. After a season with the

Perth Lynx The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at both WA Basketball Centre, Bendat Basketball Centre ...

in the WNBL, she joined the Lakeside Lightning in 2024 and earned NBL1 West MVP. She returned to the Lynx for a second season in 2024–25. Morrell became an

Australian permanent resident Australian permanent residents are residents of Australia who hold a permanent visa but are not citizens of Australia. A holder of a permanent visa may remain in Australia indefinitely. A 5-year initial travel facility, which corresponds to t ...

in 2024.

Early life

Morrell was born in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, to an American father, Marty, and a Zimbabwean mother, Gael. She was the couple's third child; her two older brothers, Roman and Weston, were born in Australia and Cyprus respectively. Her parents met in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, and had been globetrotters while her father played or coached basketball in Europe, Australia and the Middle East. The family moved to the United States in 1999 and settled down in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, where her younger brother Zanen was born. Morrell attended

Los Lunas High School Los Lunas High School is a public high school in Los Lunas, New Mexico. History Los Lunas High School was founded in 1926 as Solomon Luna High School. It was named for Solomon Luna, the most prominent political and financial leader of the area ...

Los Lunas, New Mexico Los Lunas is a village in Valencia County, New Mexico, Valencia County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the village has a population of 17,242. It is the county seat of Valencia County. Los Lunas is pa ...

. Between 2010 and 2014, she played for the girls basketball team coached by her father. She was a two-time All-Metro Player of the Year, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time state basketball tournament MVP, two-time District 6 AAAA Player of the Year, and three-time first-team All-State. The team won a district and state championship in her junior year in 2012–13 and a district title in her senior year in 2013–14. In high school, she also competed in cross country,

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and track.

College career

As a freshman at

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

in 2014–15, Morrell appeared in 29 games with two starts, averaging 2.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game. She had a season-high eight rebounds against Utah State on February 11, and a season-high nine points against

on February 14. As a sophomore in 2015–16, Morrell appeared in all 30 games with 21 starts, averaging 7.3 points and 5.9 rebounds in 24.0 minutes per game. She scored in double figures in nine games and posted two double-doubles, including 11 points and a season-high 18 rebounds against

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

on February 17, and a season-high 17 points and 13 rebounds against

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

on March 1. As a junior in 2016–17, Morrell appeared in all 30 games with 18 starts, averaging 5.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 19.7 minutes per game. She had a season-high 16 rebounds in a triple-overtime win over

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

on December 18, and a season-high 14 points against

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

on February 12. As a senior in 2017–18, Morrell played and started in all 36 games, averaging 14.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 28.2 minutes per game. She scored in double figures in 31 games and recorded a career-high 12 double-doubles and six 20-point games, which included career highs of 24 points and 19 rebounds against

Stanislaus State California State University, Stanislaus (Stanislaus State, Stan State) is a public university in Turlock, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. It was established in 1957 and offers 45 bachelor's deg ...

on December 12. She was subsequently named to the All-

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...

Team. She helped the Wolf Pack reach the final of the 2018 Mountain West tournament, where they lost 62–60 to Boise State despite 14 points from Morrell. She was subsequently named to the all-tournament team. In each of her first three seasons, Morrell earned Mountain West Scholar-Athlete honors and was named to the All-Mountain West academic team. Following her senior season, Morrell toured internationally with

Athletes in Action Athletes in Action (AIA) is an American sports organization founded in 1966. It is the sports ministry of Cru Ministries, formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ. History Athletes in Action was started in 1966 by Dave Hannah."Fact Sheet: ...

Professional career

Morrell moved to Australia in 2019 to play for the Woodville Warriors of the South Australian Premier League. She was named league MVP and All-Star Five after averaging 22 points and 13 rebounds per game. On October 18, 2019, Morrell signed with the

of the

(WNBL) as a short-term injury replacement for Rebecca Tobin. She played three games in her first stint. She re-joined the Spirit in January 2020 as an injury replacement for Marté Grays and played five more games to finish the 2019–20 WNBL season. In eight games, she averaged 1.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. Morrell was set to return to South Australia to play for the

in the rebranded

in the 2020 season, but the season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Morrell made her debut for the Southern Tigers in the

2021 NBL1 season The 2021 NBL1 season was the second season of the NBL1 after the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With North and Central conferences introduced in 2020 alongside the South Conference, the NBL1 expanded further in 2021 wi ...

. She was named NBL1 Central MVP and All-Star Five after averaging 23.1 points and 12.4 rebounds per game. She helped the Tigers reach the NBL1 Central grand final, where they defeated the

North Adelaide Rockets North Adelaide Rockets is a NBL1 Central club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club fields both a men's and women's team. The club is a division of the overarching North Adelaide Basketball Club (NABC), the major administrative basketball ...

87–77 to win the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. Morrell was named grand final MVP after recording 27 points and 16 rebounds. On October 4, 2021, Morrell signed a two-year deal with the

of the

. In the 2022 season, she was named to the

. In 22 games, she averaged 21.64 points, 11.18 rebounds, 3.55 assists and 1.32 steals per game. With the Wolves in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, Morrell was named to the All-NBL1 West First Team for the second straight year. In 22 games, she averaged 22.0 points, 12.23 rebounds, 3.05 assists, 1.18 steals and 1.41 blocks per game. Morrell joined the

as a development player for the

2023–24 WNBL season The 2023–24 WNBL season is the 44th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Townsville Fire were the defending champions, but were defeated in the Semi-Finals by Perth. The Southside Flyers won their fifth championship ti ...

. She was elevated to the Lynx playing squad in late December 2023 following an injury to import guard Aari McDonald. In her debut for the Lynx on January 3, 2024, she had seven points and four rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench in a 104–91 loss to the

Townsville Fire The Townsville Fire are an Australian professional basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). The Fire are based in Townsville, Queensland, and play their home games at Townsville Entertainment and Convention Ce ...

. On January 24, she had 14 points and 10 rebounds in a 90–76 loss to the

Melbourne Boomers Geelong United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Geelong, Victoria. United compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Geelong Arena. Beginning as the Bulleen Boomers in 1984, the ...

. The Lynx made the WNBL grand final series in 2023–24, where they lost to the

Southside Flyers The Southside Flyers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Flyers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at the State Basketball Centre. For sponsorship pur ...

. In seven games, she averaged 4.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. Morrell joined the

for the 2024 NBL1 West season. In her debut for the Lightning on March 28, 2024, she had 27 points and 31 rebounds in an 80–71 overtime win over the Willetton Tigers. She was named NBL1 West Most Valuable Player alongside All-NBL1 West First Team and

NBL1 West All-Defensive Team The NBL1 West All-Defensive Team is a NBL1 West honour bestowed on the best defensive players in the league. Under the State Basketball League (SBL) brand, a five-player all-defense team was named every year between 2016 and 2019. Selections Re ...

. She became the first player in

NBL1 The NBL1 is a semi-professional basketball league in Australia run by the National Basketball League (NBL). The league consists of five conferences: NBL1 South, NBL1 North, NBL1 Central, NBL1 West and NBL1 East, with each consisting of bot ...

history to win the respective MVP awards across two conferences. She helped the Lightning reach the preliminary final, where they lost 92–86 in overtime to the

Rockingham Flames Rockingham Flames is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of the Rockingham Basketball and Recreation Association (RBRA), the major administrat ...

despite Morrell's 20 points, 22 rebounds and nine assists. In 23 games, she averaged 21.39 points, 14.48 rebounds, 3.39 assists, 1.17 steals and 1.13 blocks per game. On July 28, 2024, Morrell re-signed with the Lynx as a fully contracted player for the

2024–25 WNBL season The 2024–25 WNBL season was the 45th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Southside Flyers were the defending champions, but they failed to qualify for Finals this season. The Bendigo Spirit won their third champions ...

. Having obtained Australian permanent residency, she joined the roster as an unrestricted player. In 21 games, she averaged 3.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. Morrell re-joined the Lakeside Lightning for the 2025 NBL1 West season. On April 17, she recorded 23 points, 23 rebounds and seven assists in an 86–77 win over the

South West Slammers South West Slammers is an NBL1 West club based in Bunbury, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The Slammers play their home games at Eaton Recreation Centre and represent Western Australia's South W ...

. On May 2, she recorded 14 points and 24 rebounds in a 74–65 win over the Joondalup Wolves. On July 12, she recorded 36 points and 15 rebounds in the Lightning's 81–76 loss to the

Perry Lakes Hawks Perry Lakes Hawks is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Perry Lakes Basketball Association (PLBA), the major administrative basketball org ...

. On July 11, 2025, Morrell signed with the University of Canberra Capitals for the 2025–26 WNBL season.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;" , 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 29, , 2, , 10.1, , 38.0, , 50.0, , 68.4, , 2.8, , 0.4, , 0.2, , 0.5, , 0.8, , 2.6 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 30, , 21, , 24.0, , 46.3, , 0.0, , 72.9, , 5.9, , 0.8, , 0.8, , 0.8, , 1.4, , 7.3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 29, , 17, , 19.8, , 42.5, , 0.0, , 69.6, , 5.6, , 1.4, , 0.6, , 0.6, , 1.9, , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 36, , 36, , 28.2, , 51.4, , 0.0, , 78.0, , 8.6, , 1.3, , 0.6, , 0.5, , 1.9, , 14.2 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 124, , 76, , 21.0, , 47.3, , 33.3, , 74.2, , 5.9, , 1.0, , 0.6, , 0.6, , 1.5, , 7.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="14", Statistics retrieved from

Sports-Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey Ref ...

Personal life

Morrell's father, Marty, played basketball at

New Mexico Military Institute New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) is a public military junior college and high school in Roswell, New Mexico. Founded in 1891, NMMI operates under the auspices of the State of New Mexico, under a dedicated Board of Regents that reports t ...

(NMMI) and

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

before becoming a professional basketball coach. He had a successful high school coaching career in the 2010s. He returned to Australia in 2024 to coach the

women's team in the NBL1 West. Her brother, Weston, also played basketball at NMMI. Her husband, David Morrell, is an American basketball coach who also attended the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded ...

. He accompanied Teige to Australia in 2019 and coached at the same clubs as her until 2023. In 2023, Morrell applied to become an

, but delays with her government paperwork meant she was classified as an import for the 2023–24 WNBL season. She gained permanent residency in April 2024. She is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

References

External links

NBL1 profileNevada Wolf Pack college bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrell, Teige 1995 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Australia American women's basketball players Basketball players from New Mexico Bendigo Spirit players Centers (basketball) Nevada Wolf Pack athletes Perth Lynx players Power forwards 21st-century American sportswomen