Daily Chronicle 2025 Girls Basketball Player of the Year: Kaneland’s Kendra Brown

Kendra Brown wasn’t 100% sure what the Kaneland girls basketball team was going to be able to accomplish this year.

There were a lot of seniors gone from last year and a lot of inexperienced players this year.

But the Knights won their first conference title in 20 years and won back-to-back regionals for the first time since 1989 and 1990.

“It’s a huge accomplishment being a part of a team that has set all those records,” said Brown, the 2025 Daily Chronicle Girls Basketball Player of the Year. “It just feels good. It’s easy as a captain, having the girls look up to you or ask you a question if they need help. ... Being able to be an example to the program is huge as well.”

Brown averaged 16.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and three steals per game this year. She finished with 1,629 career points.

Coach Brian Claesson said he couldn’t find school scoring records but assumes Brown is top three all-time in scoring.

“She’s a very driven person and she has some individual goals and team goals,” Claesson said. “That kind of just pushes her. And it was a huge accomplishment, the four school records she set. But the conference, the regionals, making the Sweet 16 last year, those were team goals she set.”

Brown also leaves Kaneland as the school’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made in a career and a season and steals in a career and a season.

Brown said her first goal as a freshman was to make the varsity team. Since then, she said, she’s been setting various goals to strive toward, with the records getting on her radar in addition to team success.

“To be able to have that mindset to work toward that is huge,” Brown said. “Accomplishing them means a lot.”

The Knights came into the season missing a lot of graduated players from the 2024 team, leaving some uncertainty in Brown’s mind about the season.

Brown said Claesson did a good job getting the most out of the players.

“A lot of girls definitely stepped up,” Brown said. “Amani Meeks took over Alexis Schueler’s spot for point guard and took it well. Honestly I’ve seen a huge growth in her development and her confidence.”

Claesson was quick to give a lot of credit back to Brown. He said she did a great job mentoring the players. The team’s success late in the year came from the development of young players, he said, and Brown was a big part of their development.

The third-year Kaneland coach said he wasn’t sure how Brown was going to be able to handle being the definite focal point of other teams’ defense.

“Especially this year, we didn’t know how it was going to go because she’s always had like a Lexi Schueler playing with her the last couple years,” Claesson said. “It’s been that way the last couple years, with teams focusing on her, but this year we knew teams were really going to focus on her.”

Brown will continue her playing career at Judson next year. She said the school was one of the few to offer an interior design program, which she wants to be her major. So between that and how welcoming the players and coaches made her feel, she said it was an easy choice.

“I am a Christian, and having a college coach who’s also a Christian is huge, something to look forward to,” Brown said. “They have the same mindset. And I just felt safe and at home when I was there.”