Molly Musland enjoying time with Concordia-Moorhead women's hoops

Dec. 27—CONCORDIA, Minn. — When she was graduating from LaMoure High School, Molly Musland had a lot of offers to play college basketball but chose to go to Concordia College (Minnesota).

"It's been great," Musland said. "I love it here, the girls on my team are amazing, the coaches are amazing. They understand that we are student-athletes, they understand that we have exams and tests that are coming up and all the professors here understand that we are athletes too, so they understand that we have games and practices. So it's an amazing culture to be in."

Musland said she was deciding between the Cobbers, the University of Jamestown and Northern State University (South Dakota). Musland is currently in her sophomore year with the program and has played in nine games averaging 2.4 points per game, 1.7 rebounds per game, and has eight total assists. In her career, she has played in 33 games scoring 72 points and recording 36 rebounds, 20 assists, nine steals and three blocks.

"Offensively, she moves really well without the ball," Cobbers head coach Kim Wagers said. "She's one of our best cutters and screeners as far as off-ball movement which is outstanding. She's a really strong guard, she can get to the rim and finish with contact. She's got a really good first step too. I would say offensively those are definitely her strengths and she's been shooting it really well the last few games. She's knocked down a bunch of threes, so that's something that's continued to improve."

Wagers said Musland's most underrated skill is her ability to move without the basketball in her hands.

This season, Musland has been playing more as she has seen her time on the floor increase from 9.6 minutes per game to 14.8 minutes per game.

"I think I'm more confident this year. Last year, I got minutes as a freshman, which was awesome and super fun," Musland said. "But this year when I got in, I feel way more confident in myself to make the right play on offense, get a stop on defense, contribute on both ends of the court. I feel more confident because I've played a year with my teammates, one more year playing with them helps me know, 'OK, she's gonna do this and I go here when that happens.'"

Musland is one of 12 guards on the team and is learning and developing behind fifth-year senior guard Emily Beseman. Musland said during the recruiting process, Wagers told her that she would get playing time her freshman year and learn from the upperclassmen ahead of her.

"I think Emily Beseman, our fifth-year senior there has been a tremendous leader for our whole team but especially those guards," Wagers said. "Emily's a physical, explosive guard, so I think Molly's probably taking a lot away from that. She's just a fireball, regardless of the day, she's easily one of our biggest competitors in practice, just brings it every day, Molly has that in her too but I think hopefully, she's got to see and take that away from Emily too just as far as, 'Oh, I'm gonna be here for four years. As I grow as a leader and a player, I want to keep impacting practice and the locker room and practice and the energy in the gym kind of like Emily does.'"

Musland said her favorite part of playing with the Cobbers is the time she has spent with her teammates. Musland is not alone with the Cobbers as she is playing on the team with her best friend, Taylor Safranski.

"I love Taylor, I live with her, she's amazing," Musland said. "I love when me and her are in at the same time because we've been playing AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) since sixth grade, so I feel like we just have that connection, she knows what I'm gonna do, I know what she's gonna do. So, when we get in there, it's so much fun, if I give her an assist or she gives me an assist, it's the cherry on top."

Musland has the potential to not be the only member of her family with the Cobbers next season if her younger brother, Max, decides to join her when he graduates from LaMoure High School in the spring of 2024.

"I think it would be fun," Musland said. "Obviously, he gets to choose where he wants to go and create his own story. But, I think it'd be fun, the men's and women's teams travel together for away games. So, I'd get to see him a lot more than I do now and being on a team like Concordia, I'd be able to help him out, if he's got any questions or anything. That would be kind of fun but he hasn't said where he wants to go yet."

In her biography on the Cobbers' website, Musland lists her favorite movie as "High School Musical," which she laughingly confirms is still the case.

"'High School Musical' is still my favorite movie by far," Musland said with a chuckle. "My favorite character is Sharpay."

Musland also said she wants to be an optometrist because of her aunts and uncles who are optometrists.

When she thinks about her favorite memories with the program, Musland said she thinks back to when the Cobbers took down then No. 6-ranked Amherst College (Massachusetts) on Dec. 29, 2022. In the future, she said she is looking forward to the team's upcoming trip to Greece next summer.

While she is home for Christmas vacation, Musland said she is practicing with her former teammates on the LaMoure/Litchville-Marion Loboes girls' basketball team.

"I'm excited to go back and play, to see all the girls again, some more competition," Musland said. "It'll be nice to play against them too, a change-up from the girls I play against in practice. I know a couple of them have goals of playing at the college level so if they have questions, I can definitely help them out, not be a coach because I don't want to overstep, but give them advice if I see something because I've gained so much knowledge going from the high school level to the college level."

When the team returns from Christmas break, they will face Gustavus Adolphus College, who beat the Cobbers in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship game last year.

"I think having that experience as a freshman to get a nice role last year, coming off the bench for us, to get a conference championship type feel in that semifinal at home, hopefully, everyone gained confidence from that and was excited to be able to host in that game and see what Memoria, our home gym, can bring that playoff-type atmosphere," Wagers said. "That was so fun and I think the girls realize that home court is something that we're always striving for but that can really be helpful in playoff situations too, to go down to Gustavus and play them in the conference championship, that experience is obviously not something that we've had, a lot of our upperclassmen have not had that experience. We've been in the playoffs since I got the job but we have not been able to win the quarter or the semi to get to the championship game. So, I think that hopefully they all gained a lot of confidence"

As of Dec. 20, Musland and her teammates have 14 games left this regular season. When she looks ahead at her personal and team goals, Musland said she wants to continue to gain the trust of her coaches and win the MIAC.