Morton College adds Flavia de Siqueira to 2026 women’s class

Morton College picked up a second de Siqueira name on its women’s basketball board when Flavia de Siqueira committed to the Panthers from Gateway Legacy Christian Academy in Missouri. The 5-foot-6 guard-wing from Florissant, Missouri, joined Morton’s 2026 class in early July, giving the NJCAA Division II program another addition as summer recruiting tightened.

The family connection gives the move extra weight. With Carolina Zarour de Siqueira also on the same commitments board, Morton showed it was not just evaluating players one by one but building trust through a relationship network that can matter as much as talent in junior-college recruiting. When a program lands more than one player from the same family or circle, the pitch often goes beyond roster fit. It signals familiarity, comfort and the belief that a player can step into a new environment with fewer unknowns, which can help a staff build early chemistry before practices even begin.

That matters for Morton, which is trying to widen its footprint beyond Illinois while still drawing from the Chicago-area suburbs. The Panthers’ official 2025-26 roster already includes multiple freshmen from suburban Illinois programs, and Flavia’s commitment from Florissant extends that regional reach into Missouri. For a Cicero-based college competing in the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference and NJCAA Division II, that kind of cross-border recruiting is a practical way to keep the roster layered with different backgrounds and skill sets.

The timing also fits Morton’s larger rebuild. John Bongiorno took over as head women’s basketball coach in July 2024, and the Panthers finished 4-22 in 2024-25 under interim coach Dominique Nelson. That record made every summer commitment more important, because Morton needed to turn an open board into a fuller picture of the team that will report in the fall.

The program still carries proof of how high its women’s team can climb. Morton once reached the NJCAA Division II national championship game during a 30-3 season, becoming the first team in school history to play for a title. Flavia de Siqueira’s commitment does not rewrite that history, but it does add another piece to a class that gives Morton more size, more regional range and another family tie in a recruiting cycle that has already favored the Panthers.