Despite a tough season, Taylor women’s basketball ended on a high note, taking down the Bethel Pilots 78-71 on Feb. 22.
Though the team struggled to compete with the other teams in the Crossroads League, finishing the year with a 2-16 conference record, the team culture made it worth it.
Senior guard Kendall Wayne doesn’t remember her college basketball career or this past season by how the team’s record turned out. If you asked her, she would tell you that their success as a team is not what mattered most to her.
“The team was always most important,” she said. “Basketball gave me 14 of my best friends.”
Though she had a successful senior year, starting in each of this season’s 28 games and converting an impressive 50.7% of her 3-pointer attempts, the stats were not her main concern.
They may not have had a winning season, but Wayne and her teammates found joy regardless. Basketball is not an easy game, but that was what made it so enjoyable for Wayne. Being able to compete with teammates helped her improve her skill set, but also catered to her competitive spirit.
Wayne says the competitiveness is what she’ll miss most.
“I’ve been doing it for so long,” she said. “Stepping away from that will be hard.”
What she can look forward to in the near future is running half marathons in her newfound free time, but more importantly, joining an accelerated nursing program at either IU Fort Wayne or another school in Indianapolis.
Like Wayne, senior guard Maycee Woods is making post-college plans as she thinks about taking her elementary education degree into a classroom.
“I’ve been thinking about how I can take what I’ve learned from basketball and my experiences of building a team into my classroom and build a better classroom that’s productive and positive,” Woods said. “I want to take what I’ve learned as a team and morph it into my classroom, and make it a fun experience.”
Woods contributed much to her team this year, playing in all 28 games, making 77.8% of her free throws, and scoring 118 points total. Off the court, she learned the value in standing on what she believes in and sticking up for the people around her.
“Through my process here at Taylor, I’ve really decided what I believe in and what I think is right and wrong,” she said.
Woods had a special four years on the squad, and she acknowledges the contrast from past teams she has been a part of. The biggest difference between Taylor’s team and her high school’s was the culture of faith.
Praying before and after each game is a norm for the team, and it’s something Woods can appreciate coming from a public high school.
“(Faith) wasn’t a forefront of what we served (in high school), whereas, at Taylor, playing basketball was always a gift that God gave us, and we all could talk about that and grow together.”
Whether the team is on the court or off, one thing is certain: they are competitive. Wayne noted that even though the season record didn’t reflect it, they were always working hard and putting in time.
As challenging as the season was, neither Wayne nor Woods recognized the outcome as a defining factor of their careers.
Instead, each career was marked by memories made with the team, individual growth, and the exciting possibilities each of them has ahead.
