Monique LeBlanc, the women’s basketball coach at Brown University, was looking for a video on her phone of one of her daughters from four years ago when she stumbled across a practice clip of Alyssa Moreland.
“Alyssa gets a deflection in a routine defensive drill we would do,” LeBlanc said of the then-freshman forward from Beverly. “When she deflected the ball out of bounds, she sort of flexed and screamed — and before you know it, I was also in the video celebrating with her.
“I think we had that connection, that same way of caring about the little things, from Day 1.”
Four years later, Moreland has completed her career for the Brown Bears. Through triumphs and tragedies (in the form of injuries), her four years of playing Division 1 basketball for this Ivy League institution has given her more than she dreamed was possible.
After knee issues that dated back to 10th grade soccer at Beverly High caused her to miss parts of her sophomore and junior seasons of college, Moreland relished playing every game for the Bears this winter as a senior captain. The 5-foot-11 power forward averaged a double-double of 11.4 points and 10 rebounds a night.
“I’m super grateful for how healthy I was throughout the season,” said the 23-year-old Moreland, who will grade this May with a degree in Business Economics. She already has a job offer at State Street Corporation in Boston, where she’ll join their professional development program.
“To be able to play the game I love for a full season my last year here, it was amazing. I think this group of freshmen who came in this season were terrific and thrived under the senior leadership, too. We were able to connect with the freshmen, and they helped us to be that much better.”
‘The Bull’
In the highly competitive Ivy League, Moreland helped the Bears finish fourth at 8-6 and 16-11 overall, including 9-2 at home. She was named Second Team All-Ivy.
As one of just two Bears to start in all 27 games, Moreland shot better than 50 percent (.506) from the field and had a team-high 270 rebounds to go with 55 assists. She also led the squad in steals (60) and blocked shots (27) while averaging more than 26 minutes a contest.
Having done pilates throughout the season to help with her flexibility, Moreland scored a season high 23 points in a victory at Yale and pulled down 19 rebounds a month later in another triumph vs. Dartmouth.
LeBlanc, who has coached at Brown for the last five seasons (minus the lost 2020-21 season to COVID), refers to Moreland as ‘The Bull’ and pronounced her “college ready” when she entered school as a freshman.
“Alyssa is a player I knew I wanted to coach because of her intensity and passion,” said LeBlanc. “I love coaching players that play with joy and celebrate small victories throughout the course of a practice — that’s Alyssa.
“Alyssa joined our program at a time where we really needed players that played with that juice and excitement. Just being herself, she added so much to help build the foundation of getting our program to the top half of the Ivy League.”
After tearing the ACL in her right knee playing soccer at Beverly High, she tore it again as a junior after transferring to the Tilton School and reclassifying. When at Brown, she missed two months as a sophomore with a health issue, then hurt her knee again in February, and it was never really the same that season despite her continuing to play.
Moreland took two months off after the season in an attempt to heal the knee, but the soreness didn’t go away. So she got scope surgery in July 2024 and found out her meniscus had been torn the entire time. That required surgery and a six-month recovery, which saw her come back for the final 13 games of that basketball season — only to re-tear the meniscus.
This time, they took it out and she had another two months off to rest — and reflect.
“There were definitely a few weeks there when I considered medically retiring after re-tearing it,” Moreland admitted. “But I didn’t feel satisfied with my career. I knew there was more left to prove.”
Prioritizing in the moment
Her recently concluded senior season, said Moreland, showed how believing in herself paid off both for her and her Bears.
“It taught me that it’s not so bad, that you can persevere and keep coming back and succeed,” she said. “I was so grateful every day, I’d show up with a smile on my face and put 100 percent into everything I do, grateful for the opportunity to do it all.”
LeBlanc, praising both Moreland’s natural physicality and her work ethic that helped elevate Brown’s program and improve its team culture, concurred.
Alyssa spent her summers training and preparing to return as an improved basketball player. She was a leader with how hard she played, and her consistent effort and intensity every day at practice,” said LeBlanc.
Alyssa’s toughness was essential in helping our team improve every year, and also so valuable during her recoveries from injury. I remember calling her in July while I was on the road recruiting, after her surgery. I expected to her to be down-spirited, but we had some good laughs about her set-up in the living room, and how her family was taking care of her. I know that it is extremely difficult to put on a happy face and be positive for your team as you battle through injury, but Alyssa did that and always returned determined to be better than ever.
“And I think this year, she absolutely was.”
Owner of a 3.75 GPA and the daughter of Tim and Lisa Moreland, Alyssa and her siblings all were Division 1 college athletes. Older brother Duncan had a stellar career playing football at the University of New Hampshire, graduating last December, while younger brother Owen is coming off of a solid first season on the gridiron at Elon University in North Carolina.
Learning increased study habits and better work/basketball/life balance and “prioritizing in the moment” during her four years on College Hill, she’s ready for the next step in her journey.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to attend Brown,” she said. “It was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We seniors wrote our own story here, not only making the Ivy League tournament this year but competing for it, too. After beating Cornell and looking up at the big scoreboard overhead and seeing us all celebrating, that’s something I’ll never forget.”
Contact Phil Stacey
@PhilStacey_SN