Camryn Veltrop’s return helps Morrison win first game

MORRISON – Morrison feels like it just got a fresh start.

After playing most of the season without its all-time leading scorer, Camryn Veltrop, the Fillies' standout made a triumphant return in a 54-24 win over Milledgeville on Wednesday night.

Veltrop, last year’s SVM Girls Basketball Player of the Year, broke her pinky finger on her shooting hand in the third game of the season.

Making her way back to the court after a successful recovery, she scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half en route to Morrison winning its first game of the season.

Veltrop’s return helped give the Fillies (1-21, 1-5 NUIC South) new hope for this year’s campaign.

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Milledgeville’s Juliana Folkers works against Morrison’s Sophia Damhoff and Camryn Veltrop Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Alex T. Paschal)

“Just bringing a new energy, it’s like a new season now,” she said. “It just starts off something new, and I think as a whole team we contributed.

“It was altogether a great game.”

Kaylee Pruis added 15 points for Morrison in the win.

Veltrop’s excitement to return to the court dulled any nerves she may have had. Her pinky and ring finger were taped up for the game as a precaution.

The 6-foot-3 Veltrop had 12 points in the first quarter, also affecting the game on the glass and racking up a number of blocked shots.

Morrison coach Todd Veltrop, Camryn’s dad, said it’s been a long season with some bumps in the road. Todd Veltrop, who is 6-9, is a 1991 Rock Falls graduate who was an All-American basketball player at Sauk Valley Community College in 1993 after playing two years at Northern Iowa.

Todd Veltrop swapped roles to start the season with assistant coach Kevin Kilker, who is still assisting the team and will take over varsity next season according to Veltrop.

“Our girls still play hard and it kind of all came together tonight,” Todd Veltrop said. “We put some things together that we kind of envisioned trying to play that way the whole year.”

The coach said Camryn’s presence on the court helps other players get open at times.

“A lot of times they’re double-teaming her, sometimes it’s triple-teaming her, so other people are going to have to step up,” Todd Veltrop said. “Tonight is what we’ve been looking for and people stepped up.”

Camryn Veltrop said her injury happened when diving for the ball as she got her hand stuck underneath her.

“It didn’t look bad until the X-rays, and then you could see all the different shattered pieces and it was sideways a little bit,” she said. “There were about 10 pieces shattered in there.”

Initially, it looked as if she might miss the rest of her senior season. But the six-week recovery went smoothly.

She had surgery with two pins inserted in her pinky and also had to wear a cast as she was recovering. She was fully cleared for practice last Friday after two weeks of physical therapy.

During her recovery process, she still tried to help the team as much as she could as a senior captain.

“As a team captain you still want to be a leader, always keep supporting your team no matter what. [And] be just as energetic on the bench as you are on the court,” she said. “Just keep supporting, keep the energy up even with the amount of losses that we had. I’m proud of my team for still playing and pushing and keeping the energy up.”

Todd Veltrop said she also took on a bit of an assistant coach role while sidelined.

“We don’t have to say as much, she can kind of talk to them a little bit,” he said. “Now she sees it from a player perspective and kind of a coaching perspective.”

With their top scorer and leader back on the court, the Fillies have a new sense of optimism.

Last year, Camryn Veltrop broke her older sister Shelby’s scoring record and reached 1,443 points through three seasons. She averaged 21.8 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.9 blocks last season as an Illinois Media Class 2A and IBCA All-State first-team selection.

With a healthy season, Veltrop was on pace to eclipse 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for her career. She entered the season just 65 rebounds away from her sister’s career rebound record.

Individual stats aside, she’s just grateful to be back on the court again with her team.

“It’s just great to be able to really play the sport that I have loved my whole life,” she said. “Especially my senior year, it’s a great feeling.”