Morgan Snyder steals a coveted spot in Oley Valley basketball history
2024 Berks basketball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
It was all smiles for Oley Valley and senior point guard Morgan Snyder Monday night.
Snyder reached the 1,000-point mark with 1:44 left in the first quarter and the Lynx clinched their first division title in 10 years with a 60-12 victory over visiting Kutztown.
Snyder, a Penn State field hockey commit, reached the 1K threshold with a steal before crossing over a defender and finishing with her left hand.
“It was really fitting to get it that way,” said Snyder, who finished with 25 points. “We work so hard on our defense and turning it into offense. Getting my 1,000th point that way was a nice cherry on top.”
Defense leading to offense has become a motto for the Lynx (10-2 Berks IV, 17-5), something head coach Kerry Snyder has preached throughout the season.
Oley Valley entered Monday’s game No. 3 in the league in scoring defense and No. 2 in scoring. Nobody epitomizes it better than Morgan Snyder, who will play defense next season for the Nittany Lions.
Snyder gets a ton of her points by taking steals the length of the court and finishing, but that’s not the only way. She can break down a defender with dribble-drives in the half court, finish with either hand at the rim, and make foul shots when she draws contact.
She’s the top foul shooter in the league at 83.7 percent; she’s made 108 foul shots, second-most in the league. She’s 13th in the league in 3-pointers with 24, an area she’s improved in after hitting six as a sophomore and 24 last year.
She was 8-for-9 from the field Monday, made each of her three 3-pointers and all six of her foul shots.
Snyder is the seventh Oley Valley girl to score 1,000 points, following Brandi Vallely (1,551), Jasmen Clark (1,435), Mitzi Reitnouer (1,261), Michelle Sola (1,148), Breanne Lamey (1,041), and Ronda Miller (1,005).
She scored 88 points as freshman, 278 as a sophomore, 303 as a junior, and needed only four points Monday to become the third Berks girl to reach 1,000 this season. Exeter’s Grace Reedy and Wyomissing’s Amaya Stewart did it previously.
She didn’t want to admit the milestone was on her mind, but her dad knew better.
“I experienced it from both ends: Coach and parent,” Kerry Snyder said. “I just knew how much it was in the back of her mind as much as she didn’t want to admit it.
“You could almost see the relief when it happened. I’m happy for her. Kids like that don’t become great by accident. It’s hours and hours of hard work in the gym, in the driveway. That’s where you end up.”
The elder Snyder has coached his daughter and fellow seniors Dana Messner and Erin Day since they were in third grade. Senior Ryanne Wheeler joined in fourth grade. Day, who is a team manager and played in only one game this season prior to Monday, was in the starting lineup on Senior Night and scored five points. Her first bucket in the second quarter may have caused a bigger cheer than Snyder’s 1,000.
“It was so cool,” Morgan Snyder. “She’s been playing with us ever since we all started elementary school. I know this was a night she was looking forward to and she’s a crowd favorite. Everybody loves Erin; it’s hard not to.”
Basketball is Morgan’s No. 2 sport now, but it wasn’t always that way. Her dad has coached in the program since she was young and brought her along to watch.
“I remember coming up with him and watching Brandi Vallely get 1,000,” Morgan Snyder said. “And just how cool those moments were. Basketball was my main sport until freshman year.
“Scoring 1,000 has been something I was working toward. The thought of it went away a little bit as I played more and more field hockey, but then I started thinking about it more this year when I realized I was getting close.”
Morgan Snyder was on hand for many of the games when Vallely averaged 16.4 points and led the Lynx to the Berks III title in 2014. That was the last time the Oley Valley girls won a division title.
The Berks IV title means the Lynx secured a spot in the BCIAA playoffs for the first time since 2019. They are in position to clinch a District 3 playoff spot for the first time since 2021. It feels even sweeter for the Lynx knowing they were so close last year.
They finished 9-3 and in a tie for the division title with Brandywine Heights but lost the tiebreaker. Then, with a 15-7 record, they narrowly missed out on districts.
“Ever since we were freshmen it was a goal of ours to clinch the division, make it to counties, and just prolong our season as long as we can,” Morgan Snyder said. “Now that we’ve done it, it feels like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Oley Valley | 18 | 22 | 6 | 14 | 60 |
| Kutztown | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| Cougars (2-19) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Gehris | 2-9 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Graham | 1-11 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| Houptley | 2-7 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Fitzgerald | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Pizzelanti | 0-1 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Derstine | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Blank | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Sanders | 0-6 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Schnore | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 5-35 | 2-2 | 0-6 | 2 | 22/23 | 12 |
| Lynx (17-5) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Snyder | 8-9 | 6-6 | 3-3 | 4 | 5 | 25 |
| Messner | 3-7 | 3-6 | 1-2 | 2 | 7 | 10 |
| Buehler | 1-1 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| Wheeler | 2-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Wagner | 1-3 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Hare | 2-3 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Myers | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Magee | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Rhoads | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Walters | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Schlegel | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Day | 2-5 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Totals | 21-40 | 13-19 | 5-8 | 14 | 27/29 | 60 |
Turnovers: Kutztown 21, Oley Valley 9. Team Rebounds: Kutztown 1, Oley Valley 2.
