Meghan Keough makes area basketball history
By Kyle LoJacono
No Pasco or northern Hillsborough county high schools won a basketball state title this season, but Land O’ Lakes still has a Class 3A champion.
Tampa Catholic senior guard Meghan Keough led the Crusaders to the 3A state crown, their second straight, by defeating Coconut Creek North Broward Prep 48-37 Feb. 24.
“It’s really amazing,” said Keough, of Land O’ Lakes. “It hasn’t really hit me yet. In a couple of months I’ll probably just stop and think about everything that has happened in the last two years.”
No other Hillsborough girls basketball team has won back-to-back titles. In fact, county schools have only taken home five state championships, including Tampa Catholic’s, since the sport started in Florida in 1976.
If girls basketball championships have been rare in Hillsborough, they have been only a dream in Pasco. Zephyrhills in 1986 is the only squad to represent the county in a state title game.
Keough attended Land O’ Lakes High for her freshman and sophomore years.
“The decision to leave Land O’ Lakes was a really hard one,” Keough said. “To pick up and go to a new school where I didn’t know anyone. That was a big sacrifice, but I felt the academics would be better for me at Tampa Catholic.”
Last season Keough was the Crusaders point guard, but was moved to shooting guard this year. Tampa Catholic coach Nancy Kroll said the team needed her to score more this season because the squad lost its two top scorers to graduation.
The shift to shooting guard was easy for Keough, as she has played the position for most of her life, but her year running point gave her new insights into the game.
“I saw the whole floor differently after being the point guard,” Keough said. “Just understanding the angles and everything else it takes to win.”
Keough was the Crusaders team leader in points this season, scoring 679, 21.2 per contest. She still led the team with 105 assists and had the second most steals, 103, and blocks, 23, while also pulling down 143 rebounds.
Tampa Catholic went 28-4 this season, but started the year 3-4.
“We might have thought we were better than we were, and that put us in a hole early,” Keough said. “We recovered and worked harder and wound up winning 25 straight games to end the year.”
Keough will play at the University of Central Florida (UCF) next year with her older sister Kayli, who attended Land O’ Lakes while in high school. She credits Kayli for her love of basketball.
“I started playing at age 10 because that’s when Kayli started playing and I wanted to do everything with her,” Keough said. “She’s my best friend. The reason I worked so hard to get on varsity my freshman year at Land O’ Lakes was so I could play on the same team as her.”
Keough plans to major in premed at UCF. She currently has a 4.2 weighted grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society, the National Beta Club and the Science National Honor Society to name a few.
Keough said her championship medals are right now in her room, but she suspects her mother will soon frame them. State basketball titles are so rare in Pasco, she might want to consider putting them under lock and key.
“We’ll always be able to say we won two championships,” Keough said. “When people look at the banners in the gym, that will be our accomplishments.”
Keough’s career stats
Points: 1,955
3-pointers: 135
Assists: 334
Steals: 317
Rebounds: 514
Blocks: 47
Record: 95-25
