Kylie Hearn, senior captain and starting point guard for the Scottsdale Christian Academy girls basketball team, caught everyone’s attention this season in the 2A high school girls’ basketball conference. 

The redhead nicknamed the “Red Tornado” led her team all the way to the state championship only to lose in the last remaining seconds of her high school basketball career.

But it’s her height and skills that turn heads on the court. The 5-foot-6-inch point guard said she’s always thought her height would be an issue.

“I’ve always complained about my height,” said Hearn, “which I probably shouldn’t now. I’ve done fine with it.”

And her stature hasn’t seemed to slow her down. This season, Hearn broke the high school girls basketball state record for assists in a single game with 22. She also was awarded Region Player of the Year and Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

Instead of groaning about her height, Hearn learned to look at it as a way to improve. Arriving early and staying late, Hearn played against boys and asked teammates to play her one-on-one to improve her skills.

She said you have to learn to play differently when you’re a short basketball player.

“My dad always told me to never let my height be an issue or a hurdle for me … I knew I had to work on things,” she said.  “It made me better in the long run.”

Hearn doesn’t remember exactly when she started playing basketball or why, but she knew it was something that always felt right to her.  She fell in love with it, thanks to her dad.

“He had a passion for it, and so I had a passion for it,” she said, “It’s kind of in my DNA.”

Hearn started playing club basketball in fifth grade, along with other members of the SCA girls basketball team, coached by her father, Travis Hearn.

Hearn attributes a lot of her success on the court to her relationship with her teammates. Freshman starter Sedona Neussle said Hearn is encouraging both on and off the court, by leading by example and uplifting her younger teammates when they need it.

Hearn said being a captain wasn’t difficult because she was playing with her best friends and everyone has something to contribute.

“It’s been easy because they make it easy,” said Hearn.

Neussle said Hearn is a team player above everything else, averaging 16 points and 8 assists per game.

Next year will be a big change for the SCA girls basketball team, as they have five seniors graduating in May, including Hearn.

“It’ll definitely be a change,” said Neussle. “I haven’t played basketball without them, so I don’t really know what that’s like.”

Not only do her teammates have a great trust in Hearn but so does Eagles head coach Bob Fredericks, who relied heavily on Hearn during the playoffs. She rarely sat out, and when she did it was less than a minute long.

While some may be worried about the future of the girls’ basketball team, Hearn believes they’ll be just fine.

“There’s a lot of younger girls coming up that really love basketball,” she said.  “As long as they keep working, they’ll be so good. I have so much faith in them.”

Now Hearn’s focus is on her future. She's  committed to Point Loma Nazarene University, a NCAA Division II school in San Diego in the Pacific West Conference.

To Hearn, playing college ball was always the goal when she realized her potential, and her work doesn’t stop here.

Said Hearn: “I started emailing colleges when I was in eighth grade … I knew that that was what I wanted to do.”

Hearn keeps tabs on her future team as well. Point Loma finished the regular season with a 12-game win streak. She hopes to only improve her game in college.

When asked about what she does when she’s not playing basketball, Hearn laughed and said, “I’m pretty much always playing basketball.”