“Kyleesha’s love for the game and dedication to her sport has put her in a position to play at the next level,” Park Hill head coach Aaron Neeser said. “Colorado sees a young lady that is athletic and highly skilled with the ball.”
Being a division one basketball recruit described as ‘playing bigger than her listed height’ and being ‘the ultimate team player’, it may be hard to believe Weston has only been playing the game since eighth grade, but once she took to the game there was no looking back. She soon joined a club team, the MoKan Eclipse, to improve her skills and face tougher competition. As her mother Lisa says, Kyleesha wasn’t always one of the better players on the team.
“Kyleesha was behind most all the other players since they had all been playing basketball for years, but this didn’t stop her. She kept at it,” Lisa Weston said. “Practicing long hours, not being able to hang out with friends, missing out on proms and school functions, she was willing to do it all, in order to reach her goal.”
It was an offseason tournament in the fall before her junior season, which led her to meeting Colorado head women’s coach Linda Lappe, who had some solid advice to offer the young point guard.
“Colorado came into the picture my junior year. They told me they thought I was a great player, but that I should probably work on my dribbling. So I would go home and dribble for two hours a day,” Kyleesha said.
The words sparked motivation which produced for Park Hill last season as Weston put together an impressive resume of stats including game averages of 15.4 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals making her one of the top prospective recruits in the country.
“By June when AAU was in full force Coach Lappe came out to watch me and said she was impressed. That’s when our relationship really started to come along,” Kyleesha said. “It really just came down to having such good chemistry with the coaches and really the whole staff.”
What attracted Weston to Colorado to start with? While many who grow up watching Big 12 schools on television someday dream of playing for those same schools and despite interest from Kansas State and Missouri, Weston wanted to branch out to something different.
“Being in the different division with the PAC-12 and playing the different schools,” Weston said. “I watch basketball and the Big 12 all the time, so it was a chance to get out there and do something different.”
Getting ready to start her senior year at Park Hill, Weston says she is fortunate to have gotten her offer as early as did and have the chance to accept it before the season started.
“I wanted the decision to be less stressful during the season for me and my teammates because I didn’t want to be missing practices or games, and I just wanted to get it out of the way. I talked to my mom, dad, and coaches and they said if you’re ready to make that commitment then go for it,” Weston said.
With her decision behind her, she’ll have the chance to look forward to the future ahead while also spending time focusing on having a quality senior season with her teammates who she’s very close to
