The insurance game differs from her time as an Indian Creek girls basketball player, but Kylee Hamilton still strives to excel.
Hamilton, a sales agent at Spalding Insurance Group in Louisville, amassed 1,944 points for the Braves from 2006-10, during which time she played for three different head coaches. A decade later, she continues to be Johnson County’s career scoring leader among girls players.
“I have a lot of good memories, and wish I could go back and play,” said the 28-year-old Hamilton, a 5-foot-4 guard who went on to play at Bellarmine University in Louisville. “I still play in some women’s basketball leagues with some of the Bellarmine girls.”
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Growing up in Morgantown, Hamilton was introduced to the sport at an early age by her father, Kevin. She doesn’t recall a point in her life when playing basketball wasn’t important to her.
“Ever since I could walk, really, whether it was the Little Tikes goal as a toddler or playing at the church in Morgantown when I was 5 or 6,” Hamilton said. “The summers after sixth and seventh grade is where I stepped it up to a whole different level.
“Playing AAU, just one day out of nowhere I scored, like, 35 points in a game. That’s when I first started to really develop as a player.”
The Braves finished 12-10 during Hamilton’s first season with Andi Ferris coaching. They were 22-19 over the next two years with Dana Scott as head coach. As a senior, Hamilton wound playing for her third coach when Dan Burkman took over.
With Hamilton and freshman (and eventual Indiana All-Star) Ally Lehman leading the way, the Braves finished the regular season with a 19-2 record. They lost a 58-57 Class 2A sectional opener to Heritage Christian, which was fresh off four consecutive 2A state titles.
Lehman finished her Indian Creek career only 16 points shy of Hamilton’s county record.
Hamilton’s first season at Bellarmine proved her best, as she started 20 of the Knights’ 27 games and averaged 11 points. After that, a broken collarbone and three different concussions limited her productivity.
Hamilton finished her college playing career with 33 starts and 582 total points. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, but eventually began making her career selling insurance.
Burkman, who coached at Indian Creek through the 2016-17 season, can still picture Hamilton pulling up for mid-range jump shots and fearlessly taking the ball to the basket against taller defenders.
“Kylee was super quick. I would describe her as a scorer. She was a very tough and aggressive player and a competitor. Kylee didn’t just like to win, she hated to lose,” Burkman said. “She was the type of kid who could score that many points with three different coaches. She was a pretty prolific scorer.”
Hamilton’s marks at Indian Creek will likely endure for some time — but should there be a 2020-21 girls basketball season, Greenwood Christian junior Izzy Reed will have Hamilton’s county standard in her sights. Reed, a hard-nosed 5-8 forward, has thus far scored 1,543 points in her career.
Hamilton, who lives in Louisville with her fiancé, Lindsay Taylor, would be okay with Reed eclipsing her point total.
“If my county points record gets broken, I would be proud of that player. I am grateful enough to have held it for as long as I have, but I have always hoped someone else would eventually break it,” she said. “It just shows how athletics for women has evolved, and how we can break new barriers and achieve new heights.
“I would proudly shake her hand and say, ‘Congratulations, you deserve it.’”
