Plum’s Montue taking advantage of AAU success

By: Greg Macafee
Thursday, June 27, 2019 | 6:48 PM

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For the past two seasons, Kennedie Montue has been a staple in the starting lineup for the Plum girls basketball team.

She has led the team in scoring since she was a freshman, and over the course of her sophomore season her game started to come together completely. She finished the campaign averaging 18.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Those type of performances were just a sign of things to come.

In May, the 5-foot-11 forward announced scholarship offers from Marshall and Oakland. Although she hasn’t received any offers since, Montue is planning on making unofficial visits to Marshall, Robert Morris and St. Francis (Pa.) this summer.

She also said she intends to make an official decision after her junior season of AAU ball.

Until then, Montue has some things she wants to accomplish this summer. One of them is to improve her game and build off her breakout sophomore season.

“I’ve improved on everything from last year,” Montue said. “My game has gotten a lot better in general since I put in the hard work last summer. So, now that I bettered my game, I plan on working even harder this summer to keep improving for my junior year.”

Most players Montue’s age have a hole or two in their game, whether it is a weak jump shot or poor defense. But her AAU Coach, Brian Murray, believes Montue doesn’t have any.

“She rebounds, she shoots well, she is athletic and she can jump,” Murray said. “She doesn’t have any holes in her game. All she needs to do is get better at everything. She’ll be a lot better as a senior because she’ll have time to work on her game.”

This summer, Murray, Montue, and their Western PA Bruins team has had a lot of success on the AAU circuit. While playing in tournaments in Columbus, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Manheim, the Bruins produced a record of 31-5.

Their most important wins came during the last weekend of April when they made their first appearance on the Under Armour Association Girls Basketball Circuit, which is in its first year of existence. The Bruins play in the 16U age group with 40 other teams from around the country. The top 32 teams that qualify for the playoffs will square off in a tournament in Atlanta the last weekend of July.

With their five wins in Manheim, the Bruins are one of the six undefeated teams remaining in their age group and have qualified for the playoff bracket in Atlanta. With the type of talent that their team possesses, Murray isn’t surprised by the amount of success they have had this summer. Counting Montue, seven of the 10 players have Division I offers, and Murray said it won’t be long before the other three receive do, as well.

“We have a pretty talent-laden team,” Murray said. “They are tall, they are all lengthy, and they all can shoot.”

With five freshmen and five sophomores, Murray said Montue is one of the leaders on a team that includes Moon’s Reilly Sunday and Emma Theodorsson, Peyton Pinkey from Woodland Hills, Journey Thomspon from Peters Township, Aislin Malcom from Chartiers Valley and Corrinne Washington from Quaker Valley.

They are some of the top players in the area and having all of that talent allows the Bruins to play against some of the best competition in the country. Not only does that allow Montue and her team to improve their skills, but it also increases their exposure to college coaches.

“That’s what the college coaches want to see,” Murray said. “They want to see them playing the best competition so they can judge them based on that, playing against the best players.”

Montue and the Bruins still have plenty of games ahead of them this summer. They’ll head to Indianapolis and Atlanta, along with a few other stops in between. But one by one, Montue is hoping to cross a few things off her list.

“I’m really just hoping to get better this summer,” Montue said. “I feel like I’ve been playing well, but I always feel like I can play better no matter what. I’m just hoping to play a lot better, get a few more offers, and hopefully win the Under Armour championship.”

Tags: Plum