The Vero Beach girls’ basketball team is off to a great start. They have won seven out of nine games this season and the team’s success has much to do with two standout players – Carley McCoin and Megan Gorman.
Both players started playing basketball at a young age. Gorman has basketball in her bloodline. Her father Pat loved the game and played for years in several men’s leagues, and her two older brothers played at Vero Beach High School.
“I’ve played ever since I can remember,” Gorman said. “My two older brothers played in the recreation league so I would always play in the driveway with them, and my dad always loved basketball so I really can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t playing basketball.”
McCoin also learned the game with family members. “I started playing when I was really young but I was too afraid to play on a team,” McCoin said. “I would just play with my cousins and stuff because I was really shy, but in sixth grade I joined the Yearling middle school team in Okeechobee and I’ve been playing ever since.”
Ironically both players remember playing against each other in middle school prior to becoming teammates and good friends last year at Vero Beach High School.
They both agree that their friendship off the court works to their advantage on the court. “I think it’s a strength knowing each other so well,” McCoin said. “We hangout off the court and we understand each other and know how the other one plays and I think that helps out a lot and we work together really well.”
Whatever the chemistry is between the teammates, its working.
In one of the most anticipated games of the season Vero Beach defeated county rival Sebastian River with a convincing 63-42 win earlier this month. Gorman had 25 rebounds and 17 points while McCoin added 25 points and 10 rebounds. Gorman, who also plays lacrosse, is one of the top high school rebounders in the state if not the country but she says stats aren’t the priority.
“I think I am old school when it comes to basketball. I’m about the team winning,” Gorman said. “I’m really about doing whatever it takes to win whether it’s me scoring 20 or passing the ball or getting rebounds. I am just going out there to do what will help the team win.”
Both girls hope to continue playing sports in college. Gorman is a junior being recruited heavily by several colleges for lacrosse, and McCoin, a senior who has completely recovered from an earlier injury, will be selecting a college in the near future.
