Feuerbach enjoys the process, wins girls basketball Player of the Year

SYCAMORE — Saturdays and Sundays in the spring after the conclusion of her sophomore year, Kylie Feuerbach would wake up early, get in the car and have her parents drive her to Ames, Iowa, just under 300 miles away, to train with her All Iowa Attack AAU team.

It was something she did in the spring of her junior season after basketball season ended while she was still doing track and field for the Sycamore Spartans, and carried through most of that summer, leading up to her senior season this year.

“I sleep, my parents drive," Feuerbach said. "That was the deal.”

With a four-hour practice on Saturday and a three-hour practice Sunday, she would wake in the morning on Saturday and come back to Sycamore Sunday evening.

“She’s just one of those kids that just enjoys the process," Sycamore girls basketball coach Adam Wickness said. "She likes getting in the gym. She likes going and working on her game. She likes being coached up.”

Feuerbach, who averaged 19.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.5 steals, 1.6 blocks per game and shot 38.5% on 3-pointers, and was a first team Associated Press all-state performer this season, is the 2019-2020 Daily Chronicle Girls Basketball Player of the Year for the third consecutive season.

Feuerbach led the Spartans girls to an undefeated Interstate 8 season and a Class 3A Hampshire Sectional final appearance in which the Spartans lost 61-55 to eventual third-place finisher Montini.

The senior Spartans star, who will once again take her athletic abilities to outdoor track and field throwing if and when the season starts, gets a little emotional still thinking about not getting to end her basketball career at the state tournament.

"Watching the games those girls were playing in, I was just thinking of how we could be there, so I think that upsets me a little bit," Feuerbach said. "But I can’t be upset with this season at all because of the girls, the coaching, and just everything about this season, it’s been great. I think getting that state run would have been extremely memorable but even just going to the sectional final, it meant a lot. Having that last game be with such a large crowd and showing how important our community was to us, it meant a lot.”

In leading Sycamore to a career-best 27 wins (27-7 overall) and a career record of 96-31, Feuerbach owns school records in points (2,207), rebounds (946) and steals (382) and no one is close to any of those marks.

Given Feuerbach's natural athleticism and willingness to put in the needed work, Feuerbach said she took Attack coach Dickson Jensen's advice to heart to make 300 three-pointers and 100 free throws per day.

“It just makes you have to have a mindset where you are always in the gym or always want to get shots up," Feuerbach said. "It raises your confidence level for sure.”

Wickness also marveled at Feuerbach's growth, both in coming into her own comfortability on the floor and her increased leadership capabilities.

“Her freshman year, she was like a little kid driving a Ferrari," Wickness said. "It was like she’s got this body that’s a Ferrari and she doesn’t quite know how to control it yet, but the time she was a senior, she was in total control."

The Iowa State signee has spent more time in her future college town than most incoming freshman, both this year and in trips in past years while playing for All Iowa Attack.

She said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly's staff has encouraged her to work on her ball-handling and that she will need to get stronger to battle in the Big 12 with the Cyclones, who finished fourth in the league this season, and gave national power Baylor its only Big 12 loss toward the end of the season.

“Going into it, I already knew there’s those 6 foot 5 (inch) posts, and I’m not going to be easily able to drive," Feuerbach said. "I’ve got to bulk up a little bit. Or a lot of bit.”

Wickness said he figures there will be growing pains, just as there was for Feuerbach at the varsity level. But he can't wait to see how she handles the challenge.

“That size and speed and athleticism and motor that she has is going to be something fun to watch when she gets some one-on-one work with a Division I college strength and training coach," Wickness said. "It’ll be cool to see how she progresses.”

The 300 threes and 100 free throws is something Feuerbach comes back to as being one of the things that instilled a tireless devotion to improvement. Kylie Feuerbach said Faith Feuerbach, a sophomore this year, was introduced to that idea and commitment at a younger age than her elder sister.

“There were times Kylie would be giving pointers to Faith or Faith (put) a move on Kylie and she got to the rim on Kylie she let her know about it, or if she hit a shot in Kylie’s face she let her know about it," Wickness said.

Now, Kylie Feuerbach will try her hand at being the young up and comer in Ames, while Faith tries to lead and keep the Spartans program stable.

"I think next year they're still going to have a really great team," Kylie Feuerbach said. "She's (Faith) not going to have a ton of pressure, she's just going to play her game and keep shooting."