Earlier this month Morehead State beat Little Rock 69-55 in the OVC tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Eagles missed out on the NCAA tourney for 9 straight year from 2012-2020 but have now made it twice in the past 4 years. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Morehead State cheerleader Lily Baker about her team’s remarkable run.
You are from Mississippi and began your college career at Jones County Junior College: how did you end up at Morehead State? Once I got really into cheerleading at Jones, I learned about Morehead through social media and discovered how great/legendary the cheer program is here. I saw videos of people stunting and they were doing all this crazy stuff and made it look so easy. I have wanted to come here ever since, but I did not think that it would be possible to be on a team this good. I had a teammate from Jones that ended up coming up here and that kind of opened a path for me to be able to visit and get to know Coach Mark Coleman and he ended up signing me! I was so happy when I signed: it was literally a dream come true.
You are majoring in in BioMed: why did you choose that subject? In high school I had a great biology teacher who really sparked my interest in that subject, so I decided to major in that. When I did orientation at Morehead, the advisor suggested BioMed for me, so I switched to that. It is a very difficult major, but I am getting through the classes one at a time.
1 of your favorite classes involves making pottery: how hard is it? I ended up taking the ceramics class here at Morehead because I took one in high school and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to enjoy it again and find some new hobbies. I went into my first class and thought that I would not really learn anything since I already have done it, but I was wrong. I had to relearn everything in that class. It was very frustrating at times: you would accidently bump into your piece or drop it on the floor and it would ruin the whole thing and you would have to start over. The feeling of finishing something though is amazing and now every time I use one of the bowls or mugs that I made I think about how I created this object.
What is the post-graduation plan? Once I graduate, I am planning on going back to Mississippi and taking a Rad Tech (Radiology Technologist) program.
What is the best part of being on the cheer team? It is the people! I love how close all the cheerleaders are and it really is like having a second family, which is very nice since I am so far from home.
Last year you won a UCA National Championship: what did it mean to you to win at title? I had won UCA Nationals with my team at Jones, but to win it with Morehead and be a part of something bigger than me was the best feeling ever. It was the peak of my cheer career for sure and I hope that we can do it again next year!
Earlier this month Morehead State beat Little Rock 69-55 in the OVC tourney title game: how excited were you when the buzzer went off, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? I was so excited, especially when the clock was so close to reaching zero because we already knew that they would win, but the boys were staying focused until the very last seconds. Once the buzzer went off everyone went ballistic. It was a surreal experience to be an Eagle that day. I was so happy that the team was able to bring home the championship that they worked so hard for.
How does your school decide who gets to go to the NCAA tourney, and what will it mean to you to see your group doing its thing in front of a national TV audience? Mark picks the people in the program that have been here the longest and/or who want to go.
Does your squad have anything extra-special planned for the NCAA tourney? To my knowledge we do not have anything special planned. We will more than likely be doing our same Morehead gameday routine.
Any predictions for your game vs. Illinois in Omaha on Thursday? It is hard to predict with all the great teams that will be attending, I just know that Morehead will show up and preform their best. I guess we will find out when we get there.