Click here to read original article, written by Portland Press Herald Staff Writer Steve Solloway

Thrown right into the mix, Yarmouth's Morgan Cahill has flourished in her first year at Saint Joseph's.

STANDISH - Morgan Cahill hasn't forgotten the very start of her basketball career at Saint Joseph's College. "I was timid." she said after Wednesday's practice. "I really didn't have a lot of confidence in my game."

Her memory should be good. Cahill is a freshman. She played her first collegiate game only three months ago. Her timidity is gone. She's not sure where or when she lost it.

Thursday night, Cahill and her teammates play Suffolk University in the semifinals of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference in Boston. The two teams met once during the conference schedule with Suffolk winning, 60-49.

"We're a better team now," said Cahill. "I'm kind of excited. This is our chance to prove ourselves. That (first game) was so long ago."

Actually, that game was played on Jan. 17, but for Cahill everything this season has happened so quickly. One year ago she was a senior at Yarmouth High, lamenting a quarterfinal loss to Lake Region High in the Western Maine basketball tournament. At about that time she made her decision where to attend college. She wanted a nursing program and she wanted to play basketball.

"I opened my eyes to my backyard and I found Saint Joseph's," said Cahill. "It was a local team, all the players are committed 100 percent to basketball and it's such a close-knit campus."

Now she's the rookie to watch in the GNAC. A 6-foot center with strength and agility. She's scored more than 10 points and grabbed more than 10 rebounds in 11 of Saint Joseph's 12 conference games. She leads the conference in double-doubles. Seven times she's been named the conference Rookie of the Week. At Saint Joseph's, no one can remember another player getting recognition that often.

"We had graduated our big girl and Morgan was put right into the mix from the start," said Saint Joseph's Coach Mike McDevitt. "I had to use her. A lot of times, just getting the opportunity helps make you a better player."

That's a nicer way of describing a sink-or-swim situation. Cahill scored 12 points and had 12 rebounds in her debut against the University of Maine-Machias in November. Three days later she had 12 points and 13 rebounds against the University of Maine-Farmington. Both were team wins. Cahill didn't get her numbers against the next opponent. But losing to the nationally ranked University of Southern Maine is an education.

"Morgan is still growing as a player," said McDevitt. "Freshmen typically have a lot of ups and downs from the confidence standpoint and she's had hers."

Tuesday in the conference quarterfinals, No. 3 Saint Joseph's beat No. 7 Johnson & Wales, 59-45. Cahill had 19 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots. She forgot she was a freshman.