Mainland’s Kylee Watson excited to play for a state girls’ basketball title
Among the top juniors in the country, Watson will lead Mainland in Sunday's Group 3 state final against Chatham.
Kylee Watson had just been the third-highest scorer on her team in the game, and she couldn’t have been happier.
The 6-foot-3 Mainland junior not only has been one of South Jersey’s highest-profile players since her freshman year, she is considered among the top players nationally in her class.
“You name it, almost every Power Five school has been recruiting her,” Mainland coach Scott Betson said.
Watson will lead Mainland (27-3) into the state Group 3 championship game against Chatham (23-6) at noon Sunday at the RWJ Barnabas Health Arena in Toms River. Mainland advanced with Wednesday’s 49-33 semifinal win over Westampton Tech at Deptford.
Watson scored nine points and added 11 rebounds and three blocked shots in that game. Teammates Claudia Mairone and Camryn Dirkes scored 14 and 11 points, respectively, and Watson said it proved a point.
“This game showed we aren’t a one-player team. Everybody can make plays. Everybody can knock down their shots. Everybody can make stops defensively,” Watson said outside the locker room afterward.
While that is true, nobody can do it with the force of Watson, who can score from the perimeter, in the post or in transition.
She is averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds, but the stats don’t begin telling the story. On Mainland, she often faces junk defenses, with two or three players collapsing on her when she touches the ball.
“I have gotten used to it the last three years,” she said.
Watson has played at the highest levels. In 2017 she was a member of the USA team that won the gold medal in the FIBA America under-16 championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She also has played against the best in the country in AAU competition. But for Watson, high school basketball is a special time.
There is an old saying that players don’t cry after losing AAU games. That’s not the case when a team doesn’t win in a high school state championship game or many others leading to it.
In an era when many top high school players look for the best team to join, Watson never considered any place but her neighborhood school, Mainland.
"When I was growing up, it never even crossed my mind that I wouldn’t be going here,” she said. “It is where I have grown up my whole life.”
The bond with her friends has been strengthened by years of playing basketball together.
“I have been playing with these girls since travel ball, and we are everybody’s best friends and just love each other so much,” she said. “I am so happy playing here the past few years, and just making it to Sunday is exciting.”
After the season, Watson will concentrate on recruiting. She won’t list any favorites for her services, but there are so many suitors not only because of her basketball skill but because she is an accomplished student.
“It’s definitely been hectic,” she said about recruiting.
Watson says it has been a great experience and she feels blessed to have received so much interest.
“It has been nice getting to meet so many great people all over the country, and it’s going to be hard to make a decision, because there have been so many great people and programs,” she said.
One of them will be getting a great player, one who has played at the highest level but still cherishes the chance to represent her town and her school in the biggest game of her high school career.