Mtn. View basketball: Kyli McSpadden profile

In early April, I interviewed Mountain View (Idaho) High athlete Kyli McSpadden. We talked her the Mavericks' basketball season, and her athletic career in general. She's a special girl. Here is the article that will appear in the Mountain View girls basketball yearbook.

Kyli

McSpadden:

Easily the fastest player on the team,

she might also be the most determined
 

By Bruce Smith

Matchup

            The best way to describe Kyli McSpadden is that she always seemed to be in a hurry.

            Anyone who knows her should understand that metaphor. McSpadden was Mountain View’s fastest player – perhaps in any sport. She was one of the Mavericks’ most-dominant track athletes. On the basketball, court she used that ability the best she could.
            “Defense was the best part of my game,” she said. “I was the (team’s) top defender for three seasons.”
            McSpadden earned varsity playing time for much of her Mountain View career. As a senior, she averaged 3.6 points per game and 1.9 rebounds. Not too impressive, but what made the Mavericks one of the preseason SIC favorites was that every opponent always had to know where she was on the floor at all times.
            “Her speed made her a great asset for our ballclub,” said coach Connie Skogrand. “She’s a great athlete and a great asset to our program. She was always upbeat … always kept us going.”
            “I really had to earn my spot my sophomore year,” McSpadden recalled. “I learned that defense wins games.”
            She kept that (starting) spot for the remainder of her career. As a senior, McSpadden had many highlights, and they weren’t just limited to the basketball court. During the fall, she was named the school’s homecoming queen. When basketball rolled around, she played a huge role, and then she was among the area’s top sprinters.
            Few athletes could claim such a resume.
            “This year was a lot of fun,” she said.
            Her basketball season actually started during the summer. Most of the Mountain View players spent June, July and part of August together preparing for the upcoming season. The highlight was a weekend trip to Walla Walla, Wash. for a tournament there.
           “We stayed in the baseman of Sko’s daughter’s house (Ali, who attended Walla Walla Community College).” she said. “We put sleeping bags on the floor and it brought our team closer together. We did really well at the tournament and had a great time.”
            When the season began, McSpadden was one of the team leaders. She had 12 points in Mountain View’s second game, a 41-36 victory over Eagle in the SIC opener. While she enjoyed that, she said her best memory was easily the Mavericks’ victory over Centennial.
            “Just beating Centennial (for the first time in school history) was the highlight of the season,” she said. “Centennial was the best team we played and it meant a lot to us.”
            Since the season didn’t go as well as most had predicted, that victory was important. McSpadden noted that it was important that the Mavericks be remembered for what they accomplished, even if they didn’t make it to the state tournament.
            Besides Centennial, she had other personal memories.
            * - “What really worked for me was when I forced a turnover and someone else would get the ball and then throw it downcourt and I would chase it,” she recalled. “I remember getting a lot of layups that way.
            * - “There was a lot of crying in the locker room after our last game (in the District 3 tournament vs. Eagle). We didn’t expect it to be our last game. There was a lot of finality about it.”
            Once the season ended, McSpadden began preparing for track. As a junior, her times in the 100, 200 and 4 x 100 relay helped the Maverick girls win the state team title. Her success there helped earn her a track scholarship to Utah State.
            To nobody’s surprise, she was anxious to get started.