Sycamore grad Kylie Feuerbach adjusting to life starting for Iowa State

It feels like a lifetime ago that former Sycamore star Kylie Feuerbach laced up her shoes for her final game in black and gold.

While the pandemic has left high school sports fans without moderate and high-risk sports for the past 10 months, Feuerbach has been embarking on the next journey in her basketball career as a starting guard for the Iowa State women’s basketball team.

“Once I left Sycamore for Ames, I was really looking forward to moving on to the next chapter in my life,” Feuerbach said. “It’s a new stage in my life where I’m way more independent, which has a lot of positives, but I do really miss seeing my family every day and hearing my dad do dad jokes and being able to see my family on a daily basis. However, the coaching staff and team here at Iowa State have really helped with the change and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Feuerbach is averaging 24 minutes a game for a Cyclone team that is in second place in the Big 12 Conference. The Cyclones (10-5, 6-2) face first place Baylor (10-2, 5-1), ranked No. 9 in the country, at 3 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.

The Cyclones already beat Baylor earlier this year, 75-71, in Waco on Jan. 16. Feuerbach had four points and four rebounds in the win.

She’s averaging 5.9 points and 2.9 rebounds a game. She had a career-best 17 points in a game against Kansas State.

Feuerbach says that adjusting to life as a college athlete is challenging but also fun.

“I was lucky to be on a great [Sycamore] team with great girls,” Feuerbach said. “But [in high school], there’s going to be times where one player is sometimes above the others. In college, they’re all great players and they were their high school’s best player … Mentally, it’s a long season and lots of practice, lifting and scouting.”

Scouting traits in high school players as young as 14 years old and projecting their growth at the Division I level is no easy job. Iowa State recruiting coordinator/assistant coach Billy Fennelly, who is the son of Cyclones head coach Bill Fennelly, was the staffer for the Cyclones who scouted Feuerbach and noted both her physical and mental skill sets.

Billy Fennelly said that Feuerbach’s background played a role in his recruitment efforts.

“We knew she was a kid who came from a very strong Iowa State background,” Fennelly said. “That is always beneficial, especially when you have an out of state kid. When she came over to play for a local AAU team we instantly saw how good of a player she was and more importantly how much better she got in a short period of time. She is sneaky athletic, handles it with both hands and shoots it well. She is someone who will grow every year as she gets more and more comfortable with our system.”

Feuerbach figured to be an impact player from the jump for a Cyclones team that likes to play a wide-open style with four guards and a post player on the floor. Feuerbach said she doesn’t think about her time on the floor outside of doing what is necessary to help the team win basketball games.

“Going into it, I just wanted to meet the standards that I had for myself and play whatever position was needed,” Feuerbach said. “If I play whatever amount of time I play as hard as coach Fenn wants me to be playing, I’ll be good. It’s been fun playing and each game I have felt more comfortable.”

Like every other program in the country, COVID-19 has impacted the Cyclones. Although each player is allowed four tickets to give to friends and family to have some fans in attendance, Feuerbach said that the atmosphere is just not the same. She also said that she gets tested for COVID-19 three times a week and that the program has rigorous health and safety protocols in place.

“We usually get tested around 7 a.m.,” Feuerbach said. “Our program has done a pretty great job of handling this. We have pretty strict rules of who we can see. I live with three other freshmen, and I really can only see them and then my teammates when we are together at the practice facility and at games … It is scary to think about how our season could be put on pause, but it has been going good.”