The Royalton Royals’ girls basketball team’s senior forward Kylie Wayashek has continued to be a big asset to the program as she led the team to another winning year before graduating.
In the 2023-24, she made multiple school records like making 114 three point shots in a season and now being a three-time All-Section 6AA. Wayashek will be ending her high school career being selected as Morrison County Record’s Player for the fourth consecutive year.
Kylie has surpassed many of her stats from last season, including scoring 525 points compared to 481 from the 2022-23 season. The Royals Head Coach Brad Baumann said her shooting accuracy has excelled.
“Kylie's always shot the ball really well from the outside but this year she brought that to a whole new level,” Bauman said. “She shattered our record for three (pointers) made in a season and actually she was close to getting into the top 15-20 for threes made in a season for the state of Minnesota.”
Her other stats include making 74 blocks in the season, 129 total rebounds and 58 assists. During a game against Brooten-Belgrade-Elrosa she set two Royalton single game records with 39 points, and nine blocks. She also set school career records with 1,829 points, 318 blocks and a free throw percentage of 74.3%. The senior said she had to really earn every point this particular season.
“Knowing that I surpassed my season total from last year was awesome because most of the time I was face guarded and double/triple teamed,” said Kylie. “It really made me work hard to figure out how to create my shot and get it off quicker.”
Baumann said Kylie has played in every position on the team at least once in the program. He also explained how this experience helped her in tough situations with opponents.
“With her size and skills, if a team tried to put a smaller player on her to try to take away her (three pointers), then she could take them down inside. Then if they put a bigger defender on her, she would just take them outside. Extremely hard to match up with.”
Baumann said the team will miss everything Kylie has done for the Royals program, on the court, from her accurate scoring ability on offense to the helpful blocking on defense.
“Having her out there and in practice, she created a sort of safety blanket for all of us in the fact that if we needed a big shot or something else needed to be taken care of, we could always turn to Kylie.”
Kylie won’t be done with basketball yet as she gets set to play in the MGBCA (Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association) All Star game for Class AA Saturday, April 6, at Carleton College. She will also play Division I basketball for Valparaiso University next season. Kylie said she will miss many things about the Royals girls basketball program and is grateful for it making her the player she is today.
“There are several aspects of the team that I am going to miss. I will miss the late night bus rides and the funny conversations in the locker rooms and at practices with my teammates. I will also miss the coaching staff, they have helped me grow so much as a student athlete.”
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