Portage’s Kylie Byrd could’ve gotten discouraged when playing time didn’t come quickly.
She could’ve veered away from basketball to concentrate on track.
But Byrd has stayed the course.
“I don’t know where we’d be without her,” Portage coach Jovanny Gonzalez said.
Indeed, Byrd has become a mainstay for the Indians (6-7). The 5-foot-8 senior forward was averaging team highs of 7.1 points and 5.2 rebounds as Portage prepared for the start of the Plymouth Holiday Tournament on Friday.
“I like challenges,” she said.
Byrd has risen to challenges along the way. She played only sparingly as a sophomore. She finally got significant minutes last season and eventually secured a starting spot, averaging 1.9 points and 4.8 rebounds.
“She’s put a lot of work into her shot over the years,” Gonzalez said. “She couldn’t shoot as an eighth grader or ninth grader. It’s something she dedicated herself to, like, ‘I’m going to be able to shoot.’ She put a lot of work in.
“She gets a lot of shots up and really, really works hard. You put enough work in, you see the results. It’s not something that’s come overnight. It’s just been a slow process. She would’ve liked to be on varsity a lot earlier, I’m sure, but she’s stayed with it, like, ‘I’m going to keep working. I’m going to keep showing up. I’m going to keep working. I’m going to fight for my spot.’ She’s earned it over time.”
Byrd achieved success in track earlier in her career, although she did hit a snag at the outset. As a freshman in her first indoor meet, she tore ligaments in her right foot. She didn’t return until the final junior varsity meet of the outdoor season.
Byrd then flourished over the next two seasons. She qualified for the state meet twice and placed ninth in the 400 meters in May. Her success last season came after she suffered a concussion during the girls basketball team’s sectional-opening loss to Valparaiso. She was sidelined for a month and a half.
“That was a huge setback for me,” Byrd said. “It really was. I was far behind. But I was able to catch up and get where I needed to be.”
Byrd, the program record holder in the 400, has won back-to-back Duneland Athletic Conference, sectional and regional titles in that event. She also has been part of consecutive state qualifiers in the 1,600 relay.
“I’m so proud of her for sticking with basketball,” Gonzalez said. “She had pressures. When you’re the caliber of athlete she is in one sport, she understood she could just go train. But she really loves basketball.”
Byrd recently committed to run track at Indiana Tech, where she intends to study business. She also had Division I offers, including from Eastern Illinois and Purdue Fort Wayne.
“She’s going to do track full time after this, and she knows that,” Gonzalez said. “She stuck with this. It hasn’t always been easy because it’s just how life is today. Everybody wants to specialize, and they want people to specialize. And she has stuck with us, and it’s appreciated by the coaches. It shows when she plays on the court, the trust we have in her that she’s gained over the years. I just love coaching her.”
Teammates such as junior guard Peyton Wilson also appreciate Byrd.
“She’s a great teammate on and off the court,” Wilson said. “I would describe her with hustle and heart. She’s fun and exciting to watch. She always strives to do her best.”
Gonzalez noted Byrd is at her best on the defensive end.
“She can guard anyone,” Gonzalez said. “We don’t play a ton of man this year, just with our personnel. But she rebounds the heck out of it, she will guard her zone and she really gets after it. She’s just a difference-maker on that end.
“If we go to a box-and-one or some kind of chase defense, it’s a no-brainer. It’s like, ‘Kylie, you have that girl,’ and that girl is no longer a factor for the three or four possessions we do that.”
Away from basketball and track, Byrd is an avid baker.
“I make brownies and cakes all the time,” she said. “I just did it one day, and I liked it. It’s a passion. I love it, actually.”
Gonzalez said Byrd “makes a mean strawberry cheesecake.” She baked a batch of brownies for the team last week, part and parcel of her investment in the program.
“We have an elementary basketball league on Sundays for K to six for Portage kids, and she’s one of our trusted officials at the second- and third-grade division, along with kindergartners first,” Gonzalez said. “She’s not always super positive with herself. She’s very hard on herself. But with the other kids, her teammates, she’s very good about being vocal, especially with the JV team, and trying to keep them positive.
“She’s been through everything they’ve been through, all the slow progressions, and just working, working, working. You’ll hear her in the back of the JV game, like, ‘Come on, insert name here.’ She tries to keep them going because she knows those looks. She’s just trying to be a good leader. She’s one of the very good leaders we have.”
